US sanctions Iran’s chief prosecutor, other officials over protest crackdown

The Biden administration slaps sanctions on Iran’s chief prosecutor, four other Iranian officials and a company that supports the country’s security forces for their roles in an ongoing violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

The Treasury Department announces it is targeting the prosecutor-general of Iran, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, two senior commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, and two members of the Basij, a paramilitary volunteer group that often enforces strict rules on dress and conduct.

“We denounce the Iranian regime’s intensifying use of violence against its own people who are advocating for their human rights,” the Treasury says in a statement. The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them.