The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on several Iranian officials and entities over alleged human rights abuses against women.
The sanctions, announced by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday as several Western countries marked International Women’s Day, targeted two top commanders from the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps.
Three Iranian companies and their directors as well as two prison officials are also on the sanctions list.
US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement that “the United States, along with our partners and allies, stand with the women of Iran.”
Nelson added that the US will continue to take action against the Iranian government and accused it of “abuse and violence against its own citizens.”
The US Treasury Department said it acted incongruous with the European Union, Britain and Australia to mark International Women’s Day.
The United States began a campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran under former US president Donald Trump.
As part of the campaign, Trump took the US out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world countries and returned all the sanctions that the accord had lifted.
The latest round of sanctions is the 10th round of anti-Iran sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department since mid-September when a wave of violent protests began in Iran following the death of a young woman.
Riots broke out in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old fainted at a police station in Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later in a hospital. An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Tehran blamed foreign-backed elements for fomenting unrest across the country. Iran has also warned some Western states against interfering in its internal affairs, rejecting as baseless the allegations of human rights abuses.
Iran’s intelligence community has said several countries, including the United States and Britain, have used their spy and propaganda apparatuses to provoke violent riots in the country. London, in particular, is home to several anti-Iran TV networks, including Iran International, Manoto, and BBC Persian, which broadcast a steady stream of misinformation encouraging the Iranian youth to join the rioters during the recent wave of unrest.
Iran criticizes those Western states for using the issue of human rights as a lever against other nations.
Source: Press TV
