Lebanon speaker says U.S. sanctions are an assault on parliament

New U.S. sanctions against Hezbollah officials, including two Lebanese lawmakers, amount to an assault on parliament and the country, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on three top officials from the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement on Tuesday: two members of Lebanon's parliament and a security official who coordinates between Hezbollah and Lebanon's security agencies.

"It is an assault on the parliament and as a result an assault on all of Lebanon," Berri, the head of Hezbollah's ally the Amal party, said in a statement. (Writing by Tom Perry/Ellen Francis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)