[1/2] A woman chats during a protest against gender-based violence in Iran, in front of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in San Francisco, California, U.S., November 30, 2022.
REUTERS/Amy OsborneWASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Iranian officials on Wednesday, including the prosecutor general and key military officials, stepping up pressure on Tehran over its crackdown on protests.
The move is the latest Washington response to the Iranian crackdown on unrest after the death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in September.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Mohammad Montazeri, Iran’s prosecutor general, accusing him of directing courts in September to issue harsh sentences to many arrested during protests.
Washington also imposed sanctions on two senior officials of Iran’s Basij Resistance Forces, a militia affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards that has been widely deployed during the crackdown, and two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials.