US hits senior Iranian officials with sanction over ruthless crackdowns on peaceful protest

Admin l Wednesday, 21 December 2022

 

WASHINGTON – The United States of America has imposed sanctions on senior Iranian officials over their overt support for ruthless crackdowns on peaceful protests in an effort to suppress the Iranian people’s voices.

In a statement, Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken said the Iranian authorities have killed hundreds of peaceful protestors, including dozens of children, and arbitrarily detained thousands, in addition to using sexual violence against protestors, according to extensive and credible reports.

“Iranian courts issued harsh sentences to protestors, including the death penalty, following sham trials lacking fair trial guarantees”, he said, adding “today, we are taking additional actions to confront these human rights abuses by designating five Iranian officials and one entity, pursuant to Executive Order 13553, which authorizes sanctions with respect to serious human rights abuses by the Government of Iran.

“Specifically, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Prosecutor-General of Iran; Moslem Moein, the chief of the Basij Cyberspace Headquarters; Hassan Hassanzadeh, the commander of IRGC forces in Tehran; Seyed Sadegh Hosseini, the commander of the IRGC’s Beit-al Moghadas Corps of Kurdistan province; and Hossein Maroufi, the Deputy Coordinator of the Basij.

“Additionally, OFAC is designating Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Company, an Iranian manufacturer of armored vehicles, tactical gear, and other materials that are actively used by the Iranian Law Enforcement Forces and other Iranian security forces in protest suppression”, he said.

Blinken said the United States will continue to support the people of Iran in the face of this brutal repression, and that the US is rallying growing international consensus to hold the regime accountable.

“Thousands of brave Iranians have risked their lives and their liberty to protest the regime’s long record of oppression and violence.

“We again call on Iran’s leadership to immediately cease its violent crackdown and to listen to its people.   We will continue to promote accountability for those involved as we support the Iranian people”, he said.