Hezbollah receives support from the Venezuelan government, according to an investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The ofac concluded that Venezuela is providing funds and safe harbor for Hezbollah members and fund-raisers.

Venezuelan diplomat Ghazi Nasr al Din and Venezuelan-Arab businessman Fawzi Kanan, both born in Lebanon, are believed to be key links between their country and the Iran-sponsored terrorist group.

Two Hezbollah parliamentary representatives came to Venezuela with Al Din in 2006, to “solicit donations” and open an “Islamic community center.” Al Din previously served as charge d’affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Syria, another key sponsor of Hezbollah.

Kanan, who heads two travel agencies in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, is a “significant provider of financial support to Hezbollah,” according to the Treasury report. He “met with senior Hezbollah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues,” and “facilitated the travel of Hezbollah members to and from Venezuela.”

The report also accused him of “possible kidnapping and terrorist attacks” and of “traveling with other Hezbollah members to Iran for training.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro denied the claims, saying, “There are no terrorists here. If they want to search for terrorists, look for them in the White House.”

The United States has done a good job of weakening al Qaeda. Hezbollah, now, is the more dangerous threat. For years it has had a strong presence in South America, where the U.S. government estimates it has earned tens of millions of dollars by selling pirated and counterfeit goods in the border regions of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

U.S.-based think tank Stratfor believes Hezbollah uses what it calls an “off the shelf” method of planning attacks. This means it has a number of attacks planned around the world. When it actually wants to use them, all it need do is take the plans off the shelf, do some secondary surveillance to update them, and then attack. This means Hezbollah can stage an attack relatively quickly—within four to five weeks, according to Stratfor estimates.

This makes Hezbollah an important weapon in Iran’s arsenal. Iran is Hezbollah’s number-one sponsor. Most of the men running it have been trained in Iran. Hezbollah will do what Iran tells it to do.

A terrorist organization controlled by a state is in some ways more dangerous than the relatively independent al Qaeda. The U.S. and Israel both know that if they go after Iran, they will also have to face Hezbollah.

This wouldn’t be a deterrent to any nation fully committed to stopping Iran’s nuclear program. But America and Israel are far from being fully committed. Hezbollah is another powerful weapon Iran has to stave off attack from a weak-willed U.S. For more information on the Iranian threat, see our article “Nuclear Iran Means Nuclear War” by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.