US sanctions Iranian officials and companies for crackdown on protests

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, in response to repression during protestsafter the death in September of the young Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Those sanctioned include Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s attorney general, and key military officials such as Moslem Moein, head of the Basij Cyberspace Headquarters; and Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of the IRGC forces in Tehran, among others.

In a statement, the department noted that Iran’s attorney general ordered courts in September to hand down harsh sentences against many detained during the protests.

“We denounce the intensification of the use of violence by the Iranian regime against its own people, who defend their human rights,” said the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, in the statement.

For his part, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, also assured through a statement that “the Iranian authorities Hundreds of protesters have been killed peaceful, including dozens of children, and have arbitrarily detained thousands, in addition to using sexual violence against protesters, according to extensive and credible reports.

The Iranian company Imen Sanat Zaman Fara was also designated since, according to the Treasury, it manufactures equipment for the country’s security forces.

The company, according to the State Department, is “an Iranian manufacturer of armored vehicles, tactical equipment, and other materials that are actively used by Iranian police forces and other Iranian security forces in the repression of protests“.

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