U.S. Slaps 8 Iranian Officials with Sanctions
Updated at 2:55 p.m. ET
The Obama administration on Wednesday placed eight Iranian officials on a U.S. financial blacklist for what it said were their roles in human rights violations following Iran's disputed June 2009 presidential election.
"On these officials' watch or under their command, Iranian citizens have been arbitrarily arrested, beaten, tortured, raped, blackmailed and killed," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in announcing the sanctions. "Yet the Iranian government has ignored repeated calls from the international community to end these abuses."
The Treasury and State departments jointly announced that the sanctions, signed by President Obama, target Iranians who "share responsibility for the sustained and severe violation of human rights in Iran."
Read President Obama's Order Authorizing Sanctions (PDF)
Clinton noted that the sanctions were the first the United States has imposed on Iran for human rights abuses.
"We would like to be able to tell you that it might be the last, but we fear not," Clinton said.
The order blocks any U.S. assets of the eight Iranians and prohibits Americans from doing business with them. Such sanctions are allowed against senior Iranian officials under legislation Congress passed earlier this year in response to the Iranian government's crackdown on protesters in the 2009 election.
"We have tried to focus on specific actors, institutions and interests as a whole," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters. "This strategy can be very effective."
"Our goal is not to hurt the Iranian people," Geithner said.
Iran is under four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions as punishment for its failure to make its nuclear ambitions transparent. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters Friday his country would consider ending higher level uranium enrichment, the most crucial part of its controversial nuclear activities, if world powers send Tehran nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor.
In a statement, the White House said the number of people sanctioned may not be limited to the eight officials named Tuesday and that the blacklist could grow "based on events in Iran" and with the discovery of new evidence.
Among the eight Iranians is Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The administration said that forces under Jafari's command participated in beatings, murder and arbitrary arrests of peaceful protesters in the aftermath of the Iranian election.
"We will serve as a voice for the voiceless, and we will hold abusive governments and individuals accountable for their actions," Clinton told reporters.
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Also named was Sadeq Mahsouli, currently Iran's minister of welfare and social security. He was minister of the interior at the time of the June 2009 election, and in that role had authority over all police forces and Interior Ministry security agents, the administration's announcement said.
"His forces were responsible for attacks on the dormitories of Tehran University on June 15, 2009, during which students were severely beaten and detained," the joint Treasury and State statement said.
In all, the eight figures are:
• Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
• Sadeq Mahsouli, minister of welfare and security and former minister of the interior
• Qolam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, prosecutor-general of Iran and former minister of intelligence
• Saeed Mortazavi, former prosecutor-general of Tehran
• Heydar Moslehi, minister of intelligence
• Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, minister of the interior and former deputy commander of the Armed Forces for Law Enforcement
• Ahmad-Reza Radan, deputy chief of Iran's national police
• Hossein Taeb, deputy Revolutionary Guard commander for intelligence
The White House portrayed the sanctions as a reflection of U.S. efforts to support peaceful change in Iran.
"The United States will always stand with those in Iran who aspire to have their voices heard," a White House statement said. "We will be a voice for those aspirations that are universal, and we continue to call upon the Iranian government to respect the rights of its people."