US says sanctions target 'architects' of protest crackdown
“The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“At the direction of President Trump, the Treasury Department is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal crackdown against the Iranian people. Treasury will use every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights.”
Among those sanctioned was security chief Ali Larijani, with the treasury calling him "one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people."
"Elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have even attacked wounded protesters in one hospital in Ilam Province, firing tear gas and metal pellets into the hospital grounds and assaulting patients, family members, and medical workers," it added.
"The officials sanctioned today—and their organizations—bear responsibility for the thousands of deaths and injuries of their fellow citizens as protests erupted in each of these provinces."
