The Treasury said Faleh Fayyadh, head of the state-sponsored network of pro-Iran fighters, was responsible for brutal attacks on protesters in October 2019.

"By directing and supervising the murder of peaceful Iraqi demonstrators, militants and politicians such as Faleh Fayyadh have been waging a violent campaign against Iraqi democracy and civil society," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, AFP reported.

The PMF -- Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic -- is overseen by the Iraqi government, with Fayyadh its chairman and top commander.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in a statement that Fayyadh was also the member of a "crisis cell" supported by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

Fayyadh is one of the most senior Iraqi officials to be placed on the US sanctions blacklist.

He recently took part in public commemorations organized by Iraq on the one-year anniversary of the US assasination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani and Fayyadh's Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The sanctions seek to freeze any assets a designated person has under US jurisdiction and bans American firms -- including banks and other companies with US branches -- from doing business with them.

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