Iran denies sending cash to Hezbollah through airport

The Iranian foreign ministry on Monday said the media reports claiming that Tehran is sending money to Hezbollah through Beirut airport are “an Israeli media campaign aimed at obstructing reconstruction” in Lebanon.

The Wall Street Journal had reported Friday that Israel had complained to the U.S.-led ceasefire committee that "Iranian diplomats and others are delivering tens of millions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah to fund the group’s revival."

The American newspaper said it had learned from a U.S. defense official and other sources that Israel had threatened to strike Beirut’s international airport if Iran kept using it to allegedly smuggle aid to Hezbollah.

According to the daily's sources, Israel claimed that Iranian envoys had been flying from Tehran to Beirut’s airport with suitcases stuffed with U.S. dollars and that Turkish citizens had also been smuggling money from Istanbul to Beirut.

The report said a Lebanese security official assured that Beirut's airport is under tight control to prevent smuggling cash to Hezbollah but that valuable items like gemstones and diamonds could pass undetected.