The United States State Department and the Department of the Treasury launched new sanctions focused on Iranian officials involved in the regime’s “brutal crackdown” on anti-regime protesters, according to press releases from both offices on Friday.
“The United States supports the Iranian people in their protests against the corrupt and repressive regime in Tehran,” the State Department statement declared.
The sanctions will target six officials who “oversee the Iranian security forces responsible for the violent crackdowns on protesters,” including Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni Kalagari, who, according to the Treasury release, is in charge of the regime’s law enforcement forces.
The US additionally sanctioned one Iranian investor accused of embezzling “billions in funds from the Iranian people.”
Regime's '47 years of catastrophic economic mismanagement'
The Treasury slammed the Iranian regime’s “47 years of catastrophic economic mismanagement” and its choices to continue “funding terrorist militias abroad and its vast weapons programs over the basic needs of everyday Iranians.”
“The people of Iran suffer from rising inflation, crumbling infrastructure, and shortages of water and electricity because the regime is squandering their wealth on its malign activities,” the statement continued.
According to Iran International, Iran’s currency fell to a record low on Saturday in unofficial markets, when 1.64 million rials traded for one US dollar.