The United States imposed sanctions on Iranian security forces for the deadly suppression of protests and “shadow banking”

The United States imposed sanctions on Iranian security forces for the deadly suppression of protests and “shadow banking”

The United States has imposed new sanctions on Iranian security officials accused of directing a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests, while also targeting financial networks alleged to have laundered billions of dollars in oil revenue abroad.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it was sanctioning Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accusing him of leading calls for violence against demonstrators.

Washington also designated four regional commanders from Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for their alleged roles in suppressing protests in Lorestan and Fars provinces, where U.S. officials say security forces have used lethal force against civilians.

In parallel with the measures targeting security officials, OFAC also sanctioned 18 individuals and firms accused of operating “shadow banking” networks that have allegedly shifted Iranian oil revenues through front companies in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

The measures come amid the most significant unrest Iran has experienced in years, and as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to militarily intervene on behalf of protesters.

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Protests erupted in late December following a sharp collapse of the national currency and widespread grievances over economic mismanagement and corruption, before expanding into broader calls for political change.

The authorities’ response has grown increasingly deadly. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has reported that more than 2,600 people have been killed during nineteen days of protests.

Iranian officials have also sought to restrict the flow of information, imposing a nationwide internet blackout that has lasted more than a week, according to the monitoring group NetBlocks. This has complicated efforts to independently verify events inside the country. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington “stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice” and would use “every tool to target those behind the regime’s tyrannical oppression of human rights.”

Iranian authorities have blamed the U.S. and Israel for instigating the unrest.