US announces new sanctions on 12 Iranians for alleged human rights abuses

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US announced a new round of sanctions Wednesday against 12 Iranians for their alleged connection to those responsible for human rights abuses in Iran and abroad.

The measures, coordinated with Australia and Canada, target key members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), officials from Iran's Prisons Organization and those involved in violent overseas operations, according to a statement by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The latest round of sanctions comes two years after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, who died in police custody after she was detained for reportedly breaching Iran's mandatory headscarf law.

Amini's death sparked nationwide protests in September 2022, with demonstrators rallying under the slogan: "Woman, Life, Freedom."

"Two years have now passed since Mahsa Amini’s tragic death in the custody of Iran’s so-called ‘Morality Police,’ and, despite the Iranian people’s peaceful calls for reform, Iran’s leaders have doubled down on the regime’s well-worn tactics of violence and coercion," Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in a statement.

“The United States, along with our allies and partners, will continue to take action to expose and hold accountable those responsible for carrying out the Iranian regime’s cruel agenda,” said the statement.