President Donald Trump‘s administration on Thursday announced sanctions against more than 20 Iranian individuals and entities responsible for the Islamic Republic’s deadly crackdown on protesters and skirting of international sanctions on the country’s oil output.
Trump previously promised to “help” protesters after the Iranian government responded to nationwide demonstrations by killing thousands of its own citizens. For days, the president’s national security team had prepared military options for Trump to choose from, with American officials signaling that U.S. airstrikes could hit Iran in the near future.
However, on Wednesday, Trump told reporters at the White House that Iranian government officials had promised to stop killing protesters, signaling that he was moving away from imminent military action against the regime.
Thursday morning, the Treasury announced sanctions against five Iranian security officials the U.S. determined were overseeing “elements of the [Iranian] security forces that are violently repressing the Iranian people. That group includes:
- Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security
- Mohammad Reza Hashemifar, commander of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Lorestan Province)
- Nematollah Bagheri, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Lorestan Province)
- Azozollah Maleki, commander of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Fars Province)
- Yadollah Buali, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Fars Province)
Furthermore, Treasury sanctioned 18 individuals and entities “who play critical roles in laundering the proceeds of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales to foreign markets as part of the clandestine ‘shadow banking’ networks.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Thursday’s announcement is a continuation of Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” against the Iranian government, which “continues to egregiously mismanage its economic resources.”
“My message today is to the Iranian leadership on behalf of the people of Iran who cannot speak for themselves,” he stated. “Iran’s leaders have brutally responded to peaceful demonstrations with violence from mass shootings in the street to attacks on wounded victims and hospitals.”
“Tehran’s natural resources belong to its people and not its brutal dictators. Treasury will continue to target Iranian networks and corrupt elites that enrich themselves at the expense of average Iranian,” Bessent concluded. “Our message to the Iranian people is clear, your demands are legitimate. You are protesting for a noble cause, and the United States support you and your efforts to peacefully oppose the regime’s mismanagement and brutality. Our message to the Iranian leaders is also clear. U.S. Treasury knows that, like rats on a sinking ship, you are frantically wiring funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Rest assured, we will track them and you, but there’s still time, if you choose to join us. As President Trump has said, stop the Violence and stand with the people of Iran.”
TRUMP’S PROMISE TO IRANIAN PROTESTERS POSES SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL RISKS
You can watch Bessent’s comments in full below.
