The Biden administration imposed sanctions on 14 Iranian officials for carrying out a violent crackdown against nationwide protests in Iran, vowing to hold the regime accountable for its "brutal suppression" of dissent, officials said Wednesday.
The announcement coincided with demonstrations in Iran marking 40 days since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in the custody of Iran’s morality police after she was accused of failing to comply with the country’s strict dress code.
“Forty days after the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, Iranians continue to bravely protest in the face of brutal suppression and disruption of internet access,” Under Secretary of the Treasury Brian Nelson said in a statement announcing the package of sanctions.
“The United States is imposing new sanctions on Iranian officials overseeing organizations involved in violent crackdowns and killings, including of children, as part of our commitment to hold all levels of the Iranian government accountable for its repression.”
The sanctions target Revolutionary Guard commanders and intelligence officials helping to orchestrate efforts to crush the protests, prison officials accused of torture and other abuses of political prisoners, regional governors overseeing violent crackdowns against peaceful protests as well as organizations involved in “censorship” and “surveillance” of the Iranian people, according to the Treasury and State Departments.
The death of Amini, a woman from the country’s Kurdish community, has sparked more than a month of protests across Iran with women in the vanguard, despite a massive security presence and arrests of demonstrators and civil society activists. The sustained protests, which have spread to universities and some factories and teachers’ associations, mark an unprecedented challenge to the regime’s authority.
The sanctions are part of a wider effort by the Biden administration to work with European and other allies to ensure internet access for Iranians and to hold Iran accountable for its repression of the protests, including at the United Nations where Iran sits on a U.N. commission on the status of women, a senior administration official told NBC News.