Listen to the news

The United States announced today that it has sanctioned three representatives of the Iranian security forces for their role in the repression of demonstrators in Iran, BTA reports.

"The Iranian regime is reportedly targeting and killing its own children who have taken to the streets to demand a better future," said senior Treasury official Brian Nelson.

"The violence against demonstrators in Iran, most recently in Mahabad, must stop," Nelson said.

They sentenced three protesters to death in Iran

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the US was "deeply concerned" by reports that Iranian authorities were resorting to "escalating violence against peaceful demonstrators".

"The human rights violations that the Iranian government is committing against its own people will not go unpunished," Blinken stressed.

The sanctioned security forces are on duty in regions populated mostly by ethnic Kurds, where the US Treasury Department says the crackdown on demonstrators has been extremely harsh.

Protests in Iran began in September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was arrested for not following Islamic dress codes and who was allegedly the victim of police brutality. 

USA

sanctions against Iran