US unveils new round of Iran sanctions, Pompeo pledges more to come
Targets in the latest round of sanctions include an Iranian charitable organization and Iran's intelligence minister.
The United States on Wednesday imposed one more round of sanctions on Iran, including a foundation linked to the country's supreme leader, and vowed more punitive measures are on the way.
The State Department designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials Heidar Abbaszadeh and Reza Papi for their alleged involvement in the violent suppression of anti-government protesters in November 2019.
In the deadliest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, widespread anti-regime demonstrations erupted across Iran last year over the government’s abrupt decision to significantly raise prices on gasoline. According to Amnesty International, at least 304 people died in the protests, including 23 children.
The Trump administration on Wednesday linked the new sanctions to the massacre in the city of Bandar Mahshahr, which killed at least 148 people a year ago. According to the State Department, both protesters and bystanders were “targeted by snipers on rooftops, tracked down and surrounded by armored vehicles, and sprayed with machine-gun fire.”
