US hits Iranian officials with travel restriction over ‘gross human rights violations’
For the first time, the Biden administration targets alleged IRGC interrogators over inhumane detention of protesters.
The Biden administration on Tuesday slapped travel restrictions on two Iranian officials accused of “gross violations of human rights” in their roles as interrogators for Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari and their immediate families are barred from entering the United States for their alleged involvement in “torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of protesters detained during the 2019-2020 demonstrations that swept across Iran, according to a statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The move marked the US government’s first new penalty against Iranian officials since President Joe Biden took office in January.
Despite objections from Iranian leaders, the new administration has maintained economic sanctions imposed by the former Trump administration after it abandoned the 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran.
