The US State Department designated four Iran-backed militias in Iraq as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) on September 17. These militias, Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al Awfiya, and Kataib al Imam Ali, were previously labeled as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entities. The FTO designation unlocks additional tools for the US Government to target and financially isolate these Iran-backed militias.
This action is part of the maximum pressure campaign on Iran that the Trump administration articulated in National Security Presidential Memorandum-2 (NSPM2) in February of this year. “The United States remains committed to countering Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and disrupting Iran-aligned militia groups (IAMGs) from conducting attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities,” the State Department stated in a fact sheet.
The State Department also noted that two other Iran-backed groups, Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al Haq, are already designated as both FTOs and SDGTs. All six of the designated militias are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an official Iraqi security organization comprised of militias, many of which are backed by Iran. The PMF has been a point of contention between the Iraqi government, which supports the organization, and the US government, which is concerned that the PMF is a vehicle for Iran’s malign influence in Iraq. All the militias are also members of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), a front group for Iran-backed militias that has carried out hundreds of attacks against the US and Israel during the war begun by Hamas’s terror attack on October 7, 2023.
The newly designated FTOs are:
Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba (HHN) was previously designated as an SDGT in 2019, along with the group’s secretary general. The original designation described the militias as “funded by but not under the control of the Iraqi government.” Instead, the group, including its secretary general, “openly pledged […] loyalties to Iran and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.” According to the new FTO designation fact sheet, “Iran supports [HHN] both militarily and logistically, and the group had close ties with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force’s (IRGC-QF) former commander Qasem Soleimani and former Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah.”
Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada (KSS) was designated as an SDGT in 2023 along with its secretary general. At the time, the State Department said, “KSS terrorist activity has threatened the lives of both U.S. and Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS personnel in Iraq and Syria.” Iran has provided KSS with “training, funding, and sophisticated weapons — including increasingly accurate and lethal unmanned aerial systems,” according to the State Department.
Harakat Ansar Allah al Awfiya (HAAA) was designated as an SDGT in June 2024, along with its secretary general. The group was designated for its participation in IRI attacks on US forces in the region, especially an attack on a military installation in Jordan in January 2024 that killed 3 American servicemembers.
Kataib al Imam Ali (KIA) was designated as an SDGT in June 2025, though the group’s secretary general, Shibl al Zaydi, was designated as an SDGT in 2018. Zaydi was sanctioned for acting on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and in support of Hezbollah. Furthermore, the Treasury Department said that Zaydi “served as a financial coordinator between the IRGC-QF and sectarian armed groups in Iraq.” He was also involved in illicit oil smuggling for Iran and sending Iraqi soldiers to fight in Syria. The group has received training from Iran and Hezbollah and supported and engaged in attacks on American personnel and interests.
FTO vs SDGT
The additional FTO designation builds upon the largely financial consequences of the earlier SDGT designations. An SDGT designation prohibits financial transactions between US persons and entities and a designated group, plus enables asset freezes.
The FTO designation additionally prohibits members of a designated group from entering the United States or receiving a visa, criminalizes the provision of support to the group, and allows victims and their families to sue an entity providing material support to the FTO. An FTO faces additional, significant isolation due to the criminalization of support, as any individual or entity could face repercussions for engaging with the group.
