US, EU, UK Pile On Sanctions In Response To Protest Crackdown

The United States, European Union and United Kingdom have each announced a new set of sanctions on officials in Iran related to the crackdown on anti-regime protesters that has taken place in recent months.

• The US Treasury Dep't has added the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative Foundation & 5 board members, the Deputy Minister of Intelligence and Security, and 4 senior IRGC commanders to its designated entities/persons list.
• The UK has placed sanctions on deputy prosecutor general Ahmad Fazelian, Kiyumars Heidari, commander in chief of Iran's ground forces; Hossein Nejat, deputy commander of the IRGC; and the Basij Resistance Force and its deputy commander, Salar Abnoush. These sanctions come in the wake of the execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari, who Tehran claimed was a spy.
• The EU placed sanctions on individuals, but did not designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation as some Iran hawks have called for. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated that the designation could not come without a court order. The IRGC is already included on the US' Foreign Terrorist Organization list, while the UK is shifting towards the same after MPs backed a motion calling for the group's proscribing.