The US Treasury on Friday slapped new sanctions on ships and their owners it accuses of enriching the Iranian state and fueling its repression following mass killings of protestors earlier this month.
The measures targeting nine vessels from what the United States dubs Iran's "shadow fleet", their owners and management firms, saying their activities have together exported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products.
“The Iranian regime is engaged in a ritual of economic self-immolation—a process that has been accelerated by President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign. Tehran’s decision to support terrorists over its own people has caused Iran's currency and living conditions to be in free fall,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was quoted as saying in a statement.
“Today’s sanctions target a critical component of how Iran generates the funds used to repress its own people. As previously outlined, Treasury will continue to track the tens of millions of dollars that the regime has stolen and is desperately attempting to wire to banks outside of Iran."
The new US sanctions come after the treasury last week announced sanctions on several top Iranian commanders and the country's powerful security chief Ali Larijani, whom it accused of being "architects" of the violence.
Iranian security forces opened fired on protestors nationwide in violence that culminated on Jan. 8-9 this month which medics and government sources told Iran International claimed the lives of at least 12,000 people.
The number may be more than 20,000, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran said Thursday, citing reports from doctors inside the country.
Ali Khamenei in his Saturday speech blamed the United States for casualties, damage and what he described as slander against Iran, directly targeting President Donald Trump for encouraging unrest and promising support to protesters.
“We consider the US president a criminal for the casualties, damages, and the slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said. He further described the recent protests as “an American plot” and accused Washington of seeking to “devour Iran.”
Supreme leader links unrest to Washington
Trump, Khamenei said, had personally intervened, accusing him of making statements that emboldened demonstrators and pledging military backing. “Trump himself intervened in this unrest, made statements, encouraged the rioters, and said we will provide military support,” he added.
The events, he said, were planned by Americans with the aim of asserting control over Iran, repeating a long-standing narrative that external forces are behind domestic dissent. He also accused the US president of misrepresenting those involved in the unrest, saying Trump portrayed “vandals” as the Iranian nation.
At least 12,000 people have been killed in Iran in the largest killing in the country's contemporary history, much of it carried out on January 8 and 9 during an ongoing internet shutdown, according to senior government and security sources speaking to Iran International.
The killing was carried out on the direct order of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, with the explicit knowledge and approval of the heads of all three branches of government, and with an order for live fire issued by the Supreme National Security Council, Iran International has learned.
Warning to protesters and alleged backers
Khamenei issued a warning that extended beyond street protests to those he described as "instigators" at home and abroad.
The leader of the Islamic Republic said he does not intend to steer the country toward war but will not let "domestic criminals" go, while also acknowledging that “several thousand people” were killed during widespread protests across Iran.
“The Iranian nation, just as it broke the back of the riot, must also break the back of those who instigated it.”
Authorities and society, he added, would not relent in pursuing those blamed for the unrest. “The Iranian nation will not let go of the domestic and international criminals behind this unrest,” Khamenei said.
