US targets Iran with new sanctions

TEHRAN, Jan. 23 (MNA) – The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative Foundation and senior Iranian officials, in a coordinated move with other western countries.

The move, taken in coordination with Britain and the European Union, is the latest Washington response to the alleged crackdown on the rioters that the western countries provoked after the natural death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in September.

According to media reports, including Reuters, Monday's US action targets a "key economic pillar of the IRGC... as well as senior security officials coordinating Tehran’s crackdown at the national and provincial levels," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

The US sanctions came after the United Kingdom on Monday announced sanctions on new Iranian figures over the recent execution of the spy Alireza Akbari and alleged human rights violations during the crackdown on recent riots in the country.

The move by the UK seemed to be part of a coordinated action with the other Western states after the EU imposed new sanctions on Tehran earlier in the day.

The EU on Monday placed 37 more Iranian officials and entities on an asset-freeze and visa-ban blacklist. However, the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that blacklisting the IRGC as a terrorist entity requires a court decision.

Iran has said that the US and its western allies resorted to the imposing illegal sanctions on Iran after they failed in the riots they instigated.