USA imposes new sanctions on Iranian politicians

Iran

USA imposes new sanctions on Iranian politicians

After the suppression of protests in Iran, the US Treasury Department announces new sanctions. Iran’s Interior Minister is particularly affected, and crypto exchanges are also being targeted for the first time.

After the brutal crackdown on demonstrators in Iran, the USA has imposed new sanctions on senior representatives of the Iranian leadership. The focus is on Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, who is said to be responsible for the violent suppression of nationwide protests, according to the US Treasury Department’s press release. Momeni therefore oversees the Iranian security forces, to whom Washington attributes the killing of thousands of demonstrators.

The punitive measures are also directed against several commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and against the investor Babak Morteza Zanjani. He is said to have embezzled billions from the oil business and made them available to the government in Tehran through covert financial structures. For the first time, the USA also imposed sanctions on two crypto exchanges linked to Zanjani.

According to the Treasury Department, assets in the US will be frozen, business relationships will be prohibited and travel restrictions will be imposed. The government of US President Donald Trump reiterated that it stands with the Iranian people and will continue to increase the pressure on the leadership in Tehran.

The current wave of protests was triggered at the end of December by a severe economic crisis in Iran. The government initially appeared willing to compromise. However, the demonstrations quickly developed into political protests against the authoritarian system of rule of the Islamic Republic. There were violent riots and serious unrest in cities. The security apparatus reacted with brutal severity.

Trump had publicly supported the demonstrators and repeatedly threatened the Iranian government with military intervention. Last week he announced that his government would impose a new punitive tariff of 25 percent of the value of goods on imports from all countries that do business with Iran. The EU also reacted similarly to the Iranian government’s actions: In addition to listing the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, 31 actors from Iran, including Interior Minister Momeni, were sanctioned.