Iran plans to impose sanction on 26 US officials: lawmaker

23 May 2011 | 15:06 Code : 13013 Latest Headlines

Xinhua -- A senior Iranian lawmaker said Sunday that the Iranian Majlis (parliament) is reviewing a plan to impose sanction on 26 U.S. officials for violations of human rights, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Kazem Jalali, rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis, said that Majlis studied the records of U.S. officials in terms of violation of human rights, according to the report.

The U.S. officials, to be sanctioned, have perpetrated crimes that amounted to blatant violation of human rights in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world, Jalali said without specifying their names.

The U.S. officials have escalated terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan by violence in the name of campaign against terrorism and some of them abetted drug trafficking, Jalali was quoted by IRNA as saying.

If the Majlis approves the plan, the U.S. officials will be sanctioned and punitive measures will be envisaged for ignoring human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan and the other parts of the world, he said but did not talk further about the nature of punitive measures.

Majlis will make the final decision to this end during the session on Tuesday, Jalali was quoted as saying.

The United States and its Western allies have already slapped sanctions on a number of Iranian officials over their involvement in the country's controversial nuclear program and alleged violations of human rights.