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The White House has been expediting key sanctions targeting American foes in the Middle East, just 11 weeks before the end of the current presidential term.

Though a last-minute change is still possible, the decision has been approved in principle by the Treasury Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is expected to unveil the sanctions in Washington Friday before noon, one person said.

Treasury Department representatives didn’t return requests for comment. A spokesman for the State Department declined to comment.

Mr. Bassil couldn’t be reached late Thursday for comment. Earlier this year, when asked about the possibility of being sanctioned by the U.S. for his ties to Hezbollah, Mr. Bassil told The Wall Street Journal that working with the group was a political reality in a country in which the Shiite group is a dominant player.

“Everybody should be sanctioned in Lebanon, because everybody deals with Hezbollah in Lebanon, on all terms,” he said.

Mr. Bassil, the son-in-law of Lebanon’s president and head of the Christian-led Free Patriotic Movement, is at the center of efforts to form a new government in the wake of the massive Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion of a warehouse filled with volatile fertilizer. The blast killed 200 people, destroyed large sections of the city and brought down the last coalition government.

Anticorruption protests last year toppled the government led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri. But two successive prime ministers were unable to pull the country out of an economic and political tailspin. Lebanese politicians recently asked Mr. Hariri to return as prime minister, and he is trying to form a new coalition government. But Mr. Bassil has been accused by Mr. Hariri’s allies of seeking inordinate influence in the new government, slowing down the talks.

Mr. Bassil’s blacklisting would “blow up the formation of the government,” one person briefed on the matter said.

The Trump administration has been considering imposing sanctions on Mr. Bassil for months. But a split among key U.S. officials had prevented Washington from making the move until now.

By isolating Mr. Bassil with sanctions, Washington would be making a decision that would resonate long after the current U.S. presidential term ends on Jan. 20. With several states still uncalled, Democrat Joe Biden is within striking distance of the presidency, though the outcome of the Nov. 3 election remained uncertain late Thursday.

In September, the U.S. blacklisted two less prominent ex-Lebanese government ministers it says have aided Iran-backed Hezbollah and are part of systemic corruption.

Write to Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com and Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com