The United States has designated Akram al-Kaabi, the secretary-general of the Iraqi armed faction Harakat al-Nujaba (also Al-Nujaba Movement), as a terrorist and announced a $10 million reward for information leading to him, in the latest move targeting Iran-aligned armed group leaders accused of attacking American interests in the region.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the US State Department said al-Kaabi and his movement were designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists in March 2019.
It said the reward was being offered under its programme for information about individuals involved in activities that threaten US security.
Washington accused the group of carrying out attacks against US diplomatic facilities and military bases in Iraq and Syria, resulting in the death of a US contractor and injuries to several American troops.
Harakat al-Nujaba operates within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella network of Iran-aligned factions that has claimed responsibility for more than 750 attacks on US targets across Iraq and the wider region since the outbreak of the 2026 US-Israeli war on Iran earlier this year.
According to US officials, those attacks targeted the US embassy in Baghdad, Baghdad International Airport, airports in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, and energy infrastructure.
The move marks the fourth such US action in less than a month against leaders of Iraqi armed factions linked to Iran.
Previous $10 million reward offers were announced against Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya leader Haidar al-Gharawi and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada leader Hashim al-Saraji, also known as Abu Alaa al-Walai.
The Iraqi government had indications that Washington was preparing sanctions against additional Iraqi figures accused of attacking American interests, an Iraqi official in Baghdad told The New Arab. The US designations could also provide legal cover for future American military operations against armed factions inside Iraq, the official suggested, noting that US counterterrorism laws permit operations against designated individuals outside the United States.
Harakat al-Nujaba is considered the fourth-largest faction within Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) , with more than 11,000 fighters.
The group fought in Syria alongside the regime of Bashar al-Assad from 2012 until its collapse at the end of 2024.
Al-Kaabi, 48, is originally from the southern Iraqi city of Amarah and first emerged as a senior figure in the Mahdi Army founded by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
He later helped establish Asaib Ahl al-Haq before splitting off in 2013 to found Harakat al-Nujaba, which became one of the most prominent Iran-aligned factions in Iraq.
Al-Kaabi has frequently adopted strongly anti-US rhetoric and has been linked to several so-called shadow factions accused of launching drone and rocket attacks on American targets in Iraq and the region.