Three Iranian security officials were sanctioned Wednesday by the U.S. Treasury Department for the continuing aggressive crackdown on women-led Iranian human rights protests.
"The Iranian regime is reportedly targeting and gunning down its own children, who have taken to the street to demand a better future," Brian E. Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in a statement. "The abuses being committed in Iran against protestors, including most recently in Mahabad, must stop."
Sanctioned are Hassan Asgari, the governor of the Kurdish northwestern Iranian city of Sanandaj; Alireza Moradi, commander of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran; and Mohammad Taghi Osanloo, ground forces commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps overseeing West Aerbaijan province.
The Treasury Department sanctions statement said Iranian security officials are increasing aggressive actions "against the Iranian people as part of its ongoing suppression of peaceful protests against a regime that denies basic human rights to its people, especially women and girls."
