The Trump administration has called on Qatar to stop funding pro-Iranian militias following revelations about the Gulf state’s dealings with terror groups in the Middle East.

US security officials have expressed concern about Qatar’s links to a number of Iranian-sponsored militias, many of them regarded as terrorist organisations by Washington.

It follows the disclosure of a number of emails said to be from senior officials in the Qatari government to leading members of groups such as Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia militia that operates in southern Lebanon, as well as senior commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The emails, transcripts of which have been seen by the Sunday Telegraph, show that senior members of the Qatari government are on friendly terms with key figures in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard such as Qasem Soleimani, the influential head of of the Iranian Quds Force, and Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hizbollah.

Details of these previously undisclosed conversations between Qatari officials and the heads of several Iranian-backed terror groups show that Doha paid hundreds of millions of dollars - one report puts the figure as high as $1 billion - as part of ransom payments to secure the release of hostages held by Shia militias in southern Iraq.