Iran: US imposes new sanctions on Iranian officials, companies

The United States has introduced a new round of sanctions on Iranian individuals and companies. The latest round of sanctions targeting individuals and firms was due to allegations of serious human rights violations committed by Tehran in its crackdown on the ongoing protests.

The Treasury Department issued a statement on Wednesday announcing a new round of sanctions on Iranian officials and companies as Washington marks International Women’s Day. The new sanctions would target two senior Iranian prison officials whom the department has accused of severe human rights violations against women and girls. Washington has also sanctioned a top Iranian army commander, a senior official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and an official linked to the Iranian government’s efforts to block internet access.

Three Iranian companies were also sanctioned by the US, including their leaders, for enabling the repression by Iranian law enforcement.

“The United States along with our partners and allies, stand with the women of Iran, who advocate for fundamental freedoms in the face of a brutal regime that treats women as second-class citizens and attempts to suppress their voices by any means,” said the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.

Wednesday’s sanctioning marks the 10th set of penalties the US has imposed on Iran since Tehran sought to crack down on the ongoing protests brought forth by the death of Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini back in September last year. Amini died in the custody of the morality police days after she was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.

Mostly led by women and students, the protests marked the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers since the 1979 Revolution that helped the clerical regime come into power. The Iranian government has since accused the West of inciting the protests that it refers to as riots and its hardline judiciary has executed four people on protest-related charges.

The previous sanctions by Washington on Iran targeted its oil and petrochemical sales, as the US said it intends to reduce Iran’s energy exports weeks after reports by US media that said Washington and Tehran were working on a prisoner exchange agreement. The sanctions were announced by the State Department.