The United States has levied a new round of sanctions against Iranian security officials held responsible for orchestrating a violent crackdown on nationwide demonstrations, while also blacklisting financial networks that allegedly laundered billions in oil profits abroad.
On Thursday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, had been sanctioned for what Washington described as his role in inciting violence against protesters. The designation also targeted four regional commanders from Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are accused of directing lethal force against civilians in Lorestan and Fars provinces.
In a separate but coordinated move, the Treasury sanctioned 18 individuals and entities involved in shadow banking operations that purportedly funneled Iranian oil revenues through front companies in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
The sanctions come against a backdrop of deep political unrest, the most severe Iran has experienced in years, as demonstrators took to the streets in late December. Triggered by a sudden collapse of the national currency and grievances over economic mismanagement and corruption, the protests quickly grew into demands for systemic political change.
The government’s response has been increasingly brutal. According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, more than 2,600 people have been killed during nineteen days of protests. Authorities have also moved to control information flow, imposing a nationwide internet blackout that has lasted over a week, as reported by monitoring group NetBlocks, making independent verification of events difficult.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the administration stands firmly with the Iranian people in their pursuit of freedom and justice, vowing to use all available tools to target those behind what he called the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights. Iranian officials, however, have dismissed the unrest as instigated by the United States and Israel.