The United States on Thursday announced the imposition of economic sanctions on seven senior Iranian officials for playing a major role in the “violent suppression” of the demonstrations sparked by the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
US Treasury said in a statement that among those targeted by the sanctions were Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, whom it described as “the regime’s main tool in the crackdown” and Communications Minister Eisa Zarepour, who it said was “responsible for the shameful attempt to disrupt the Internet.”
The sanctions also included senior officials in the security services whose assets in the United States were frozen, and their access to the international financial system was restricted.
In the statement, Deputy Treasury Secretary Brian Nelson said that the United States condemned the Iranian government’s blocking of the Internet and violent suppression of peaceful protests and will not hesitate to target those directing and supporting these steps.
These sanctions come after US President Joe Biden said on Monday, October 3, that new sanctions would be imposed within the week, which Tehran criticized for accusing the United States of hypocrisy in the field of human rights.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blake pledged, Thursday, to hold accountable those who direct or support the denial of Iranians’ right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Previous US sanctions
On September 22, Washington announced a series of sanctions targeting the Iranian morality police and several security officials.
It is noteworthy that the 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died on September 16, three days after her arrest for violating the strict rules of dress for women in Iran, which obligate her, in particular, to wear the hijab.
The incident sparked widespread popular anger in the political and media circles in Iran, amid conflicting accounts of the causes of death.
Protests in Iran entered their fourth week, on Friday, October 7, and swept through most cities and regions.
At the start of the protests in Iran, at least 92 people have been killed, according to the Oslo-based NGO Human Rights in Iran, while the authorities estimated the death toll at 60 people, including 12 security personnel.
The authorities stated that more than a thousand people were arrested and more than 620 of them were released in the capital, Tehran alone.
