A statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council said Wednesday that it was taking the step because of hostile acts by the militant group within its member states.
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“Those who call Hezbollah terrorists, have intentionally or unintentionally targeted the unity and security of Lebanon”, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday.
The Sunni Muslim dominated council – representing Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar – already imposed sanctions on the Shi’ite Muslim group in 2013 after it entered Syria’s war in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, for its part, has denounced Saudi military intervention in Yemen, where Riyadh is leading a fierce campaign against the Shia Houthi militant group, which in 2014 overran much of the country and which Saudi Arabia accuses of serving Iranian interests.
In a televised address, Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia does not have “the right to sanction the Lebanese people because one particular party took a certain position”.
The GCC on Wednesday declared the Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
“The Kingdom will continue its fight against the terrorist activities of the so-called Hezbollah with all available means”, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement. Diplomatic ties were severed after Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy and another diplomatic mission in Iran.
The decision came a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that Saudi Arabia had pushed Lebanon into a new phase of a political conflict by ending its military aid programme and dealing a blow to the country’s tourism industry.
Hezbollah, established in the 1980s, is a paramilitary and political organization originating from Lebanon’s Shiite population.
The decision to label Hezbollah in all its manifestations a terrorist organization brings the GCC in line with the U.S., which also blacklists the group.
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Hezbollah is backed by Saudi Arabia’s regional Shiite rival Iran, which supports opposing sides to Riyadh in conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
