Iran: US Treasury sanctions officials over protest-related executions

The US Treasury Department announced a new batch of sanctions that target several Iranian officials. The sanctions this time are over the executions Iran’s hardline judiciary carried out on those who participated in the ongoing protests.

The Treasury issued a statement on Wednesday announcing the sanctions on Iranian officials. Among those targeted by the penalties is Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri for his involvement in a protest-related execution, as well as several other individuals linked to the military and paramilitary organizations that Washington has accused of being complicit in human rights abuses.

“Today’s action targets the senior official overseeing the prosecution of protesters, as well as leaders of military and paramilitary organizations violently cracking down and detaining protesters and a company that procures and provides security forces with tools of suppression,” said the statement.

“The case of the first executed protestor, a young man named Mohsen Shekari, proceeded with little resemblance to a meaningful trial,” said the Treasury in the statement, adding that Montazeri “issued a directive to courts to act ‘decisively’ and issue harsh sentences to many of those arrested during the ongoing protests.”

Earlier this month, Iran carried out a second protest-related execution. Majidreza Rahnavard was executed after getting convicted for allegedly killing two members of the security forces.

Protests have erupted across Iran since September following the outrage that resulted from the death of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police. Amini died days after she was detained for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code on women. Tehran has sought to blame its foreign adversaries, such as the United States, for fomenting the unrest.

Iran has already been sanctioned by the West for its crackdown on the protests, marking the biggest challenge to the Islamic Republic’s clerical leaders since the 1979 Revolution.

On Tuesday, Iran and the European Union signaled the continuation of talks in order to restore the 2015 nuclear deal after a stalemate of some time. Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan.

Borrell described the meeting as necessary due to the strained relations between Iran and the bloc.