U.S. sanctions Iranian officials involved in crackdown on protesters

The Treasury Department announced new sanctions for human rights violations against a trio of Iranian officials involved in the regime's crackdown on protesters in predominantly Kurdish regions of the country.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday designated three Iranian security officials for sanctions that will freeze any U.S.-based assets of the individuals, block transactions involving the individuals or entities they own, and potentially sanction other individuals or foreign financial firms that facilitate transactions for them.

Widespread protests have racked Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, in police custody in September. She had been arrested by Iran's morality police, known as the Guidance Patrol, for not wearing a hijab in compliance with the Islamic Republic's dress code. Amini died after she was reportedly beaten severely by police, which Iranian authorities have denied.

Iran's regime has sought to suppress the protests and has undertaken a particularly brutal crackdown in Kurdish regions of the country.

"The Iranian regime is reportedly targeting and gunning down its own children, who have taken to the street to demand a better future," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson in a statement announcing the sanctions. "The abuses being committed in Iran against protesters, including most recently in Mahabad, must stop."

Last weekend, Iran deployed troops to Mahabad, a small Kurdish-majority city in western Iran, in a bid to regain control of the town after protesters took it over. 

Videos posted to social media showed the city's streets packed with military vehicles as gunfire could be heard throughout the city. In one incident, people gathered for what was said to be a speech from the governor, but Iranian forces opened fire on the crowd, resulting in an unknown number of casualties.

Mohammad Taghi Osanloo, the commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces in a region that includes Mahabad, is one of the officials sanctioned by the Treasury Department. 

The other two newly-sanctioned Iranian officials are Hassan Asgari, the governor of the city of Sanandaj, and Alireza Moradi, the commander of law enforcement in the city. 

After a 16-year-old protester was reportedly killed by government forces, Asgari and other officials stated she died of a drug overdose, alleging that it may have been a suicide. 

Iranian officials commonly provide false causes of death for protesters to evade accountability for human rights abuses, the Treasury Department explained.