The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials it accused of being behind the crackdown on protests and warned it was tracking Iranian leaders' funds being wired to banks around the world, as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration increases pressure on Tehran. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on the Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and law enforcement forces commanders, accusing them of being architects of the crackdown. The U.S.-based HRANA rights group says it has so far verified the deaths of 2,435 protesters and 153 government-affiliated individuals. "The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice," Bessent said in the statement. The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 18 people it accused of involvement in laundering the proceeds of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales to foreign markets as part of "shadow banking" networks of sanctioned Iranian financial institutions.

Source: The Telegraph January 15, 2026 16:11 UTC