23 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States has sanctioned this Monday, joining the United Kingdom and the European Union, ten individuals and an Iranian entity in retaliation for the violations of Human Rights committed during the protests that have broken out in Iran since September.
“This is the ninth round (of sanctions) directed at the actors responsible for the repression of peaceful protesters since protests began across the country in 2022,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. release.
Specifically, those sanctioned by the Treasury Department are the Vice Minister of Intelligence, Naser Rashedi; the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Qom, Hosein Tanavar; the commander of the IRGC in the western region in Kermanshah, Mohamed Nazar Azimi; the deputy commander of the western region, Kourosh Asiabani and the commander of the IRCG in Isfahan, Mojtaba Fada.
Rashedi is part of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), which is linked “to a wide range of Human Rights abuses” in the context of the protests, including beatings, sexual abuse, surveillance, censorship or forced confessions.
For their part, according to a statement sent by the State Department, both Azimi and Asiabani command IRGC units, “which allegedly committed some of the worst acts by Iranian security forces since the start of the protests in September 2022.” .
“The IRGC has shelled vehicles attempting to deliver blood bags to the wounded at local hospitals, preventing their delivery. Fada, the IRGC commander of Isfahan province and a member of its provincial security council, has overseen the crackdown on opponents to the regime in Isfahan,” he detailed.
The United States has also sanctioned the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, which is a “source of corruption and bribery” maintained by high-ranking members of the organization, including Chairman of the Board Ali Asghar Noruzi, Vice President Seyyed Amin Ala Emami Tabatabai and three other members serving on the board. All of them have been sanctioned.
