US sanctions Iraqi paramilitary group Kataib Hezbollah

The United States has imposed sanctions targeting Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned Iraqi paramilitary group, as part of an effort to disrupt financial networks supporting Iran’s regional activities, the US State Department said. “Today, the United States is taking action under Operation Economic Outcast targeting Kata’ib Hizballah (KH), Hizballah, and the broader financial networks that sustain Iran’s campaign of regional destabilization,” State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said. Pigott said the group and those linked to it serve as Iran’s “instruments for projecting violence and subversion across the Middle East”. Kataib Hezbollah has rejected an Iraqi government order requiring paramilitary groups to disarm.