on Sept. 22, the U.S. departments of Treasury and State announced economic sanctions targeting Iran's "morality police" and seven individual security officials involved in both suppression of women's rights and the escalating crackdown on protests over the past fewweeks.

The uprising started when in mid-September a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, was apprehended by the morality police and accused of wearing loose head covering. According to eyewitnesses, she was physically assaulted, and later fell into a coma. Her tragic death three days later provided the initial spark for widespread protests. Since then, the Iranian people, tired of a rock-bottom economy and decades of brutal repression, have targeted the entire regime and are calling for "an end to the Islamic republic."

Anti-regime rallies have to date surged to at least 80 cities, according to The New York Times, and over 150 cities, based on credible opposition reports. Although internet blackouts in Iran make it difficult to verify the number of casualties, dozens—close to 200 according to one tally—have been brutally killed while thousands have been detained. The real figures are believed to be much higher.
While the new U.S. sanctions are an appropriate first step, they should have been imposed the moment the White House became aware of the unrest and ensuing crackdown. Nonetheless, sanctions are an insufficient response.

Despite the Iranian regime President Ebrahim Raisi's threats of a "decisive" backlash, "this year's protests are different" than all previous rounds, and young people are "bolder than ever," according to analysts.

Therefore, as it becomes increasingly clear that the current unrest rivals the scope and significance of each of the eight uprisings that have taken place since the end of 2017, the U.S. government must resolve to expand sanctions to their very limit, and to bring other democratic nations on board with a strategy for supporting the Iranian people in their push for democratic regime change.
Such strategy has been absent from the Western response to each of the previous uprisings, and the result in some cases has been devastating for ordinary Iranians. During the largest of those uprisings in November 2019, the regime systematically murdered 1,500 peaceful protesters. International actors condemned the repression in general terms but did not take measures to hold the perpetrators accountable.