Global News

The United States is imposing sanctions on a senior branch of the Iranian military as well as nine political and military advisers of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Treasury Department has said, as Washington continues to intensify its maximum pressure campaign against Iran. 

The new measures, announced on Monday, coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis – when supporters of the Iranian revolution took over the American embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of US diplomats and citizens there for more than 14 months.

“This action further constricts the Supreme Leader’s ability to execute his agenda of terror and oppression,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on Monday.

Nine appointees of Khamenei were targeted by the Treasury Department on Monday, including the supreme leader’s son, Mojtaba, who was described by the US government as “the head of Iran’s judiciary”.

Hours after the sanctions were officially announced, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the move was an example of America’s “bullying” approach to foreign policy. 

“These types of actions are only a sign of the desperation and inability of this regime in benefiting from a diplomatic and logical approach, which can be seen in the framework of the bullying view of the United States towards other countries and important global and international issues,” Mousavi said, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

In June, the US imposed sanctions on Khamenei’s office.

Treasury Department blacklists, known as special designations, freeze the targeted individuals’ assets in the US and bar American citizens from doing business with them.

Monday’s sanctions also targeted the General Staff of the Armed Forces, an elite military body in Iran. Washington had earlier designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-imposes-sanctions-aides-irans-ali-khamenei