United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered the Justice Department to establish an investigative team to probe organizations giving support to the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah, Reuters reported.
"The Justice Department will leave no stone unturned in order to eliminate threats to our citizens from terrorist organizations," Sessions said.
The move comes in the wake of an expose last month by Politico which alleged that the Obama administration actively thwarted a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) operation into Hezbollah's drug smuggling operations in the United States in order to appease Iran ahead of the 2015 nuclear deal.
According to the report, a team of DEA agents aided by dozens of US and foreign security and law enforcement agencies spent eight years mapping out Hezbollah’s intricate web of organized crime operations and other money-making schemes around the globe aimed at funding the terror group’s operations in the Middle East.
DEA officials monitored Hezbollah involvement in the cocaine trade, including shipments from South America to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States. Some of the money was laundered by purchasing used cars in the US in bulk, then selling them in West Africa.
Yet when the DEA pushed for the prosecution of suspects tied to Hezbollah, the Obama Justice Department repeatedly rebuffed its requests.
“This was a policy decision, it was a systematic decision,” said David Asher, an analyst involved in Project Cassandra.
“They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down.”
At the same time, the Obama administration was pursuing a rapprochement with Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, with the goal of reaching a comprehensive deal regarding the rogue regime’s nuclear program.
The report caused shockwaves in Israel, which lies under the shadow of Hezbollah's estimated arsenal of 150,000 missiles in Lebanon, including long-range Scud missiles. "If the report is correct, then Barack Obama must return the Nobel Peace Prize he received," said Yesh Atid faction head Yair Lapid.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions had ordered a review of Project Cassandra two weeks ago in an effort to ascertain whether claims of deliberate interference by the Obama administration were valid. "While I am hopeful that there were no barriers constructed by the last administration to allowing DEA agents to fully bring all appropriate cases under Project Cassandra, this is a significant issue for the protection of Americans," Sessions said in a statement.
