The U.S. Treasury is targeting top Iranian officials for a new round of sanctions following the recent executions of two protesters, the agency announced Wednesday.
"We denounce the Iranian regime's intensifying use of violence against its own people who are advocating for their human rights," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a press release announcing the new sanctions Wednesday. "The United States and our partners are dedicated to holding Iranian officials to account for egregious abuses committed against Iranian citizens fighting for their fundamental freedoms."
The new sanctions announced by the agency are against Iran's Prosecutor General, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, who oversees the prosecutions and enforces criminal judgments throughout the country; the Imen Sanat Zaman Fara Company, which makes equipment for Iranian law enforcement; and senior officials in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij Resistance Forces, the release said.
The sanctions specifically target Hassan Hassanzadeh, the IRGG commander in Tehran who has overseen the crackdown on protests there, and IRGC Kurdistan commander Seyed Sadegh Hosseini, who has spoken out against the protests in the region he commands.
The sanctions will impact all "property and interests" the individuals have in the United States and any entity where the individuals control more than a 50% ownership stake, the agency said.
American entities are also blocked from performing transactions with those identified, according to the agency.
Other individuals and entities that do business or perform transactions with those being sanctioned could also be sanctioned, the release said.
The action comes in response to two executions — one in public — of protesters demonstrating against the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini at the hands of the nation's "morality police" in September, which has led to the reported killing of hundreds of protesters by the government there, Politico reported.
"Thousands of brave Iranians have risked their lives and their liberty to protest the regime's long record of oppression and violence," Politico reported Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying in a statement. "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."
According to the report, the U.S. is also trying to kick Iran off the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.