BEIRUT, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Tuesday that he hopes the United States will not impose new sanctions on Lebanese politicians.
"The U.S. government is clear in its approach when it comes to sanctions. I do not think that new sanctions will be imposed against Lebanese politicians but I cannot assure this," Hariri said in a a statement by the prime minister's office.
He revealed that a parliament delegation and a bank delegation had visited the United States over the sanction issue.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced last month that it had slapped sanctions on three key Hezbollah figures including two members of the Lebanese parliament.
In a statement, the U.S. department accused the three people of "leveraging their privileged positions to facilitate Hezbollah's malign agenda and do Iran's bidding."
Moreover, political sources in Beirut have said Washington also threatened to issue sanctions against figures of Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil's party, the Free Patriotic Movement.
