US imposes new sanctions on Iranian officials over protest crackdown

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, including the Prosecutor General and key military officials, over a crackdown on protests ignited by Mahsa Amini's death in police custody.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Mohammad Montazeri, Iran’s Prosecutor General, accusing him of issuing a directive to courts in September to issue harsh sentences to many of those arrested during protests.

Also designated was Iranian company Imen Sanat Zaman Fara, which the Treasury said manufactures equipment for Iran's Law Enforcement Forces, including armoured vehicles used in crowd suppression.

Washington also imposed sanctions on two senior officials of Iran’s Basij Resistance Forces, a militia affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards that has been widely deployed during the crackdown, and two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials.

The move is the latest in a series of actions Washington has taken imposing new sanctions on Iranian officials over Iran's crackdown on the unrest ignited by the death of Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman, while in the custody of the morality police in September.

The protests by Iranians from all walks of life mark one of the boldest challenges to the ruling theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran accuses Western powers of fomenting the unrest, which security forces have met with deadly violence. 

(Reuters)