Kawtharani is a senior official of the Lebanese Shiite movement in Iraq, "and has taken over some of the political coordination of Iran-aligned paramilitary groups formerly organized by Qassim Suleimani," the US State Department said in a statement.

Suleimani, a powerful leader of the Revolutionary Guard, the ideological army of Tehran, was killed in early January in an American strike targeting him in Baghdad.

According to Washington, Kawtharani, already on the US blacklist for terrorism since 2013, "facilitates the actions of groups operating outside the control of the Government of Iraq that have violently suppressed protests" or "attacked foreign diplomatic missions".

The State Department, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, added that the official promoted the interests of the group in Iraq by participating in "training, funding, political and logistical support" of Shiite insurgent groups.