ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The leader of Iraq’s Iran-backed Harakat al-Nujaba militia group Akram al-Kaabi on Wednesday said that the weapons of the “Islamic Resistance” will not be handed over “as long as we live,” a day after the US offered a reward of up to $10 million for his whereabouts.

American authorities, as well as the US Embassy in Baghdad, have routinely called for the disarmament of the pro-Iran groups, calls that have increased after the targeting of US interests within Iraqi territory during the war in the Middle East.

Kaabi claimed in a Wednesday statement that “a small number of those tempted by worldly interests have become mouthpieces” of the US demands which are allegedly “incited by the criminal Zionist entity.”

The militant leader called on factions within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of pro-Iran militias that were responsible for majority of the attacks on the US, to “reject even engaging in this discussion,” adding “it is disgraceful to listen to discourse that represents nothing but an echo of the Zionist and American position.”

“Let it be known to them that the resistance’s weapons are a red line,” Kaabi said. “They will not be surrendered as long as we live; rather, they will not be taken even if lives are sacrificed.”

The statement comes after a Tuesday announcement by the State Department's Rewards for Justice program, offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Kaabi, saying his group has “a long history” of targeting US diplomatic forces in Iraq.

A senior State Department official told CNN on Wednesday that Washington eyes “actions, not words,” from Iraqi authorities, arguing that “there is currently a blurred line between the Iraqi state and these militias.” The official encouraged Baghdad to expel the groups and cut funds and salaries sustaining them.

The US official further noted that US facilities were targeted more than 600 times by the Iran-backed groups during the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Many Iran-backed factions operating within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have been officially incorporated into the Iraqi state security apparatus as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), making Iraq a target for US-Israeli strikes.

In late March, Harakat al-Nujaba called on the Iraqi parliament and national forces to cancel security cooperation with the United States following a series of retaliatory strikes on PMF positions.

In mid-April, the US imposed sanctions on seven pro-Iran Iraqi militia commanders from groups in Iraq accused of carrying out attacks against its personnel and interests, with Nujaba being among them.