US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday morning that Washington would offer up to US$7 million for information leading to the identification or arrest of Hezbollah operative Salman Raouf Salman, who he accused of being the mastermind behind the 1994 AMIA Jewish community centre bombing, Argentina’s worst-ever terrorist attack.

Pompeo, who arrived in Argentina late Thursday night for a whistlestop visit, revealed the news in opening remarks delivered at the Second Hemisphere Ministerial Conference on the Fight Against Terrorism in Buenos Aires, which comes on the 25th anniversary of the bombing.

The US official also announced targeted sanctions against Salman, which “denies him access to the United States financial system,” and said Washington would blacklist him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Pompeo accused Salman, who reportedly has joint Lebanese and Colombian citizenship, of serving “ as the on-the-ground coordinator for the AMIA bombing.” He said the operative “continues plotting terrorism on behalf of Hezbollah.”

The announcement comes just one day after Argentina designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation – a measure Secretary Pompeo commended during his remarks. The move imposes sanctions against the organisation, freezing its assets.

Salman arrived in Argentina in 1989 using the false identity “Salman El Reda” and married an Argentine of Lebanese descent. In 2009, he was identified in a report by late AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman as the alleged primary organiser of the 1994 bombing, which left 85 people dead and more than 300 injured.