
The United States has designated Iraq-based Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya as a terrorist organization, the US State Department announced.
The US State Department sanctioned the Iran-backed group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization along with its 46-year-old secretary general, Muzhir Ma'lak al-Sa'idi.
"The United States remains committed to using all available tools to counter Iran's support for terrorism and to degrade and disrupt the ability of Iran-backed groups to conduct terrorist attacks," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya is part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks from Iraq and Syria targeting US military, including a January drone strike that killed three US service members in Jordan.