Hezbollah has received $200 million from Iran to help Lebanese displaced by this year's war with Israel, two people with direct knowledge of the transfer told Reuters, in what would be the first significant aid from the group to supporters who bore the brunt of the conflict. The claim could not be independently verified — the sources gave no details on how the money reached Lebanon — and the United States disputes it, with a State Department spokesperson saying the money "is not there."
What did Reuters report?
Hezbollah received the cash last month despite a tightening US economic chokehold on Iran and increasing difficulties in getting funds to Tehran's Lebanese ally, the two people said. Intermediaries who moved the money charged a 20% fee, reflecting the risks of dealing with the group — one source said that was four times the normal fee.
Asked for comment, a Hezbollah official said an amount had been secured and a plan for distributing it would be announced in the coming days, without elaborating on the source of the funds. The Iranian foreign ministry, Iran's permanent mission in Geneva, and the Lebanese government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Why does the US dispute the claim?
The US disputed the claim, Reuters reported. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement that the money "is not there," accusing Hezbollah of "trying to save face with fake stories about cash influxes from Iran." A Treasury spokesperson said Iran was "running out of money and ways to move money" and that Tehran "does not have money to fund its campaign of terror."
Pigott added that Hezbollah had caused misery for the Lebanese and had itself been decimated, while its backer Tehran was suffering under a US blockade of oil exports. "The United States will continue to strangle Hezbollah's finances through sanctions while supporting the ability of Lebanon's legitimate government to rebuild the South," he said.
Where would the money go?
Hezbollah would use the funds to pay an initial $3,000 per family, and priority would go to those whose villages have been destroyed or are inaccessible due to Israeli occupation, the sources said. One of the sources put that group at around 50,000 families.
The need is acute. Israel's bombardment and invasion of Lebanon uprooted hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah's Shi'ite Muslim constituents after the group entered the regional war in support of Iran on March 2, Reuters reported — but those displaced have so far received little to no assistance from Hezbollah.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a speech last month that the group would soon contribute to a project aimed at housing thousands of people displaced by the war, using "available resources and donations," without elaborating. The group has long used post-conflict aid to shore up its support: after the 2006 war with Israel, it immediately handed out large cash payments to those impacted and moved swiftly to help rebuild Beirut's southern suburbs. This time there has been little sign of reconstruction — Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said last month that total reconstruction costs from the two wars since 2024 could exceed $27 billion.
How does Iran still fund Hezbollah?
Iran has maintained financial support to Hezbollah through years of crippling US sanctions: it transferred $1 billion to the group in the first 10 months of 2025, according to the US Treasury Department. Tehran has never acknowledged financing Hezbollah.
Iran had promised Hezbollah more funding after Tehran signed an interim deal with Washington in June that allowed Iran to sell its oil, Reuters reported at the time. That agreement collapsed in July, and Washington has since intensified economic pressure on Iran, tightening sanctions and imposing a naval blockade to block Iranian oil exports.
One of the sources said it was increasingly difficult for Hezbollah to move funds via financial companies that once processed such transfers — firms based in Iraq and Dubai were no longer an option, and they were also under pressure in Turkey. Hezbollah's foes believed money was currently the group's "oxygen," the source said, adding that despite the difficulties, the group had not stopped paying its fighters and the family members of those killed in combat.
What is the war's toll in Lebanon?
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people since March 2, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Its toll does not say how many combatants may be among the dead. Hezbollah has not disclosed figures on its war dead; Reuters reported on May 4 that several thousand Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the war.
Israel has razed villages across a swathe of territory it has seized in the south, saying it aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attack. Hezbollah, an armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982 which has suffered heavy Israeli blows in two wars since 2024, is designated a terrorist group by Washington.
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Attribution notes: the $200 million transfer, its timing, the 20% intermediary fee, the $3,000-per-family plan and the 50,000-family estimate rest on two anonymous sources speaking to Reuters; no independent confirmation of the transfer exists, and the United States disputes that the money exists at all. The US Treasury's $1 billion figure and Pigott's statements are the US government's own accounts. The 4,300+ killed figure is Lebanon's health ministry's toll, which does not distinguish combatants. The Pigott and Treasury quotes are carried in the verbatim wire-carrier copy of the same Reuters exclusive, which includes reporting (the US dispute) added to the wire.
