The United States has added the son of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the United States counter-terrorism blacklist, in a move that would keep him from accessing the United States financial system.
The State and Treasury departments said on Thursday they had designated Hamza bin Laden a "global terrorist" who they said had "called for acts of terrorism in western capitals".
Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, has become active as a member of al-Qaeda since his father's death at the hands of US special forces on May 2, 2011.
Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri has since taken up the reins of the organization, but Hamza has also issued audio messages to supporters and was officially named an al-Qaeda member in 2014.
In August 2015, al-Qaeda released an audio message that it claimed had come from Hamza, in which he urged attacks on the United States and its allies.
Founder of the armed group Osama bin Laden, who was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, was killed by American special forces who raided his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Hamza bin Laden was thought to be under house arrest in Iran at the time, and documents recovered from the compound indicated that aides had been trying to reunite him with his father.
As stated by letters found in the United States raid on Osama's hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to his Saudi-born father asking to be trained to follow him.
Bruce Reidel, an analyst with the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, has called Hamza bin Laden the "new face for al Qaeda" and "an articulate and dangerous enemy," Reuters news agency stated.
The United States also added Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to the counter-terrorism blacklist on Thursday.
Al-Banna, who was born in Egypt, has described al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on New York and Washington as "virtuous" and threatened to target Americans in the United States and abroad, the State Department stated.
Before joining AQAP, he was a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Yemen, it said, adding that al-Banna threatened to target Americans abroad and urged Saudi tribes to unite with AQAP in Yemen to fight against Saudi Arabia.
Any property owned by the two men and subject to US jurisdiction may be frozen, and US citizens are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them, the State Department stated.
Aljazeera