US sanctions more Iranian officials for protest crackdown

The US imposed sanctions on three Iranian officials on Wednesday for their role in the crackdown on protests in Kurdish-populated regions of the country.

“The Iranian regime is reportedly targeting and gunning down its own children, who have taken to the street to demand a better future,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a statement. “The abuses being committed in Iran against protesters, including most recently in Mahabad, must stop,” Nelson said.

The Iranian officials sanctioned hold posts in Iran’s Kurdish regions, according to the Treasury Department.

“Since countrywide protests erupted after the killing of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s ‘morality police’ in September 2022, the Kurdish cities in northwestern Iran, such as Sanandaj and Mahabad, have faced a particularly severe security response,” the department said. “In the past few days, dozens of protesters have reportedly been killed in the Kurdish region alone,” it said.

Sanctions were imposed on Hassan Asgari, the governor of