The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have all imposed new sanctions on Iran.
“Along with our partners, we will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable so long as it relies upon violence, sham trials, the execution of protesters, and other means of suppressing its people,” said Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a press release.
The West’s current steps follow the September death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police detention. The protests are the biggest challenge to the regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran blames Western powers for the unrest, which security forces have violently suppressed, reported Reuters.
The Treasury Department said the move targets a critical economic part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which pays for most of the regime’s harsh repression and senior security officers coordinating the crackdowns in Tehran and its provinces.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the IRGC was created to defend the Shi’ite clerical establishment. It has 125,000 people in its army, navy, and air force. It also has a religious militia called the Basij that is often used in crackdowns.
Washington says the IRGC “plays a major role” in putting down protests, including frequent human rights violations.
The IRGC Cooperative Foundation, already under U.S. sanctions, was called “a wellspring of corruption and graft” by the Treasury. Senior leaders set it up to oversee the group’s investments and involvement in Iran’s economy and to fund the IRGC’s military excursions abroad.
Over 30 Iranian officials and organizations, including the Revolutionary Guard, were sanctioned by the EU for a “brutal” clampdown on demonstrators and other human rights abuses.
A list in the EU’s Official Journal stated that the sanctions targeted IRGC units and senior officials across Iran, particularly in Sunni-populated areas where the state crackdown has been harsh.
A total of 18 people and 19 entities were sanctioned. Targeted individuals cannot enter the EU, and their assets can be frozen.
Some EU states and the European Parliament want the entire IRGC listed as a terrorist group. Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that would only happen if an EU court found the IRGC guilty of terrorism.
On Monday, Britain sanctioned additional Iranians for “brutal persecution.”
The British Foreign Office froze the assets of Iranian deputy prosecutor general Ahmad Fazelian, whom they blamed for a political death penalty system.
On Monday, Britain sanctioned Kiyumars Heidari, commander in chief of Iran’s ground forces; Hossein Nejat, IRGC deputy commander; and the Basij Resistance Force and its deputy leader, Salar Abnoush.
The UK also imposed sanctions on the Basij Cooperative Foundation and Qasem Rezaei, the deputy commander of Iran’s police force.
Since Amini’s death, Britain has imposed 50 new sanctions on Iran, according to Reuters.
Relations between the West and Iran have long been tense, but they have gotten worse since talks to renew Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal stalled and after Tehran put down protests last year.
Iran’s assistance to Russia in Ukraine, where Western powers allege Moscow uses Iranian drones, has also strained relations, according to Reuters.