WASHINGTON: The US Department of State imposed sanctions on Friday on a leading Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general following Iran’s crackdown on protesters, US Special Representative on Iran Brian Hook said.
“The United States is listing IRGC Brig. Gen. Hassan Shavapor under Section 7031c, visa sanctions,” Hook told reporters.
“General Shavapor committed gross violations of human rights against protesters at the press briefing. He oversaw the massacre of 148 helpless Iranians in the Mashar region last November,” he said.
Hook added that the designation was the result of photographic and video tips submitted to the department by Iranians.
The department has received more than 88,000 such tips since it appealed for Iranians to report evidence of repression and gross human rights abuses, Hook said.
Iran has denied US allegations of widespread repression but has acknowledged confronting separatists in Mahshahr that it said were armed.
Hook's press statement came after Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made comments about the day Tehran hit US bases in Iraq with missiles in response to the killing of the country’s top military commander Qassem Soleimani, calling it “a day of God.”
He also said that the killing of Soleimani was a “disgrace” to the American administration and that the attack showed the “terrorist nature” of Washington.
In response, Hook said: “The more Iran threatens the world, the more isolated it will become.”
Hook also said that US sanctions were working, citing Iran's president Hassan Rouhani admitting financial losses due to the sanctions and pointing toward Iran's "major banking crisis."
He added: "We have succeeded in making the Iranian regime and whoever helps it pay a heavy price."
Also on Friday, Hook praised the UK and its decision to classify Lebanon's Hezbollah movement as a terrorist group.
