The Biden administration on Friday imposed sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian individuals and entities tied to the violent suppression of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini one year ago.
The new sanctions are the latest tranche in response to Tehran’s brutal crackdown on the protestors who took to the streets in the wake of Amini’s death in the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police. The 22-year-old was allegedly arrested by the morality police – on whom the US imposed sanctions last year – for improperly wearing her hijab.
According to a news release from the US Treasury Department, Friday’s sanctions target “18 key members of the regime’s security forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF); the head of Iran’s Prisons Organization; three individuals and one company in connection with the regime’s systematic censorship and blocking of access to the internet; and three IRGC and regime-controlled media outlets—-Fars News, Tasnim News and Press TV—-and three senior officials.”
The US sanctions were imposed in coordination with partners including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the Treasury Department said.
In a separate statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US State Department is moving “to impose visa restrictions on 13 Iranian officials and other individuals for their involvement in the detention or killing of peaceful protestors or the inhibition of their rights to freedom of expression or assembly.”
“Since Mahsa Amini’s death and the protests that followed, we have pursued visa restrictions on 40 Iranian officials and other individuals for their involvement in these acts targeting peaceful protestors,” the top US diplomat said.
President Joe Biden said in a statement Friday that he and first lady Jill…
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