Emanuele Ottolenghi, Author at FDD's Long War Journal

Analysis: US Treasury sanctions Hezbollah front designed to insulate terror group’s gold reserves

Emanuele Ottolenghi | February 14, 2026

Earlier this week, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Jood SARL, a gold exchange recently established in Lebanon, declaring it a front for the US-sanctioned Hezbollah financial institution Al Qard al Hassan (AQAH). For years, AQAH has acted as Hezbollah’s shadow bank, using its legal status as a charitable institution to elude banking regulations, oversight, and compliance. However, based on corporate records, it appears that Treasury did not designate some of Jood SARL’s shareholders and managers.

Analysis: Iran’s Al Mustafa University is a terror front

Emanuele Ottolenghi | December 2, 2025

In 2020, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Al Mustafa International University, followed by Canada’s Foreign Ministry designating the organization in 2022. Ostensibly an international Islamic school, Al Mustafa is a front for Iranian terrorism and propaganda with a proven track record of involvement in terror plots, including a recent IRGC scheme to assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Mexico.

Analysis: Iran’s web of terror and propaganda: The case of Al Mustafa University

Emanuele Ottolenghi | August 19, 2025

Al Mustafa International University, a religious seminar in Iran’s city of Qom, is a key instrument of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s efforts to spread its revolutionary ideology. Its cooperation with the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has earned it sanctions from the United States and Canada, and some of its graduates have been implicated in terrorist plots. Yet, the organization’s work overseas continues with little interference from local authorities.

Analysis: A deported Brown University professor’s Hezbollah ties

Emanuele Ottolenghi | March 23, 2025

Dr. Racha Alawieh, a Brown University physician in the US on a visa, was denied re-entry into the country after returning from Lebanon. A central question is whether Alawieh’s entry was blocked for her exercising First Amendment rights or whether her family’s close links to Hezbollah jeopardized her visa. If the latter justification survives judicial review, the precedent may give US authorities a tool to disrupt Hezbollah’s influence and illicit finance operations in the United States.