US Levies New Sanctions on Iranian Officials, Entities

The United States levied new sanctions on Iranian officials and government agencies over alleged human rights abuses. The US Treasury and State departments on Tuesday announced the blacklisting of the Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and Counter-Terror Special Forces as well as several of the agencies’ officials.

The human rights abuses specified in the sanctions are on officials and entities involved in the violent crackdowns on civil protests in 2009 and 2019.

The new sanctions come as the current round of nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers that were paused on Friday are set to resume again on Thursday in Vienna. France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a French parliament committee on Tuesday that the world powers fear that Iran is attempting to draw out the talks in order to continue to develop their nuclear program. Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran agreed to slow its nuclear production in exchange for an end to most sanctions.