UK, US sanction art dealer with suspected ties to Hezbollah

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. and U.S. governments have sanctioned a diamond and art dealer for allegedly funding Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The U.K. Treasury said Tuesday it had frozen Nazem Ahmad’s assets in the U.K. because he financed the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Under the sanctions, no one in the U.K. or U.S. will be able to do business with Ahmad or his businesses. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday afternoon sanctioned a network of 52 individuals and entities from Lebanon to South Africa to the United Kingdom to Hong Kong for their associations with Ahmad.