The Trump administration announced a new round of sanctions Thursday targeting senior Iranian officials and financial networks it says are fueling Tehran’s crackdown on anti-government protests, as tensions continue to rise.
The Treasury Department said the measures will focus on “the architects of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators” as well as what it described as “shadow banking networks” allegedly used by wealthy Iranians and regime-linked actors to move and launder money tied to Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. intends to keep pressuring Iranian leaders responsible for human rights abuses. “The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice,” Bessent wrote on X, adding that the Treasury Department would use “every tool” to hold accountable those involved in repression.
Among those targeted are several Iranian commanders and Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, whom the administration accused of being among the first senior officials to call for violence against protesters. The sanctions package also includes 18 individuals and entities Treasury officials say play key roles in laundering proceeds from petroleum and petrochemical sales routed to foreign markets.
The sanctions come as protests in Iran stretch into their third week. Demonstrations began roughly two weeks ago amid public frustration over the country’s faltering economy, but have since evolved into broader anti-regime unrest, with protesters increasingly directing anger at Iran’s leadership and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A U.S.-based monitoring group, the Human Rights Activist News Agency, has reported at least 2,600 deaths and more than 18,000 arrests since the unrest began, with the death toll including children, civilians, and members of Iran’s security forces. Those figures could not be independently confirmed.
Trump has raised possibility of military action
The new sanctions also arrive as President Trump has recently signaled the U.S. could escalate beyond economic pressure if Iran’s government continues its crackdown.
In recent public comments, Trump said the United States is considering “very strong options,” and suggested intervention could be triggered if the Iranian government escalates violent killings of protesters.
Trump has emphasized that any response would not necessarily involve deploying American ground troops, but could include strikes aimed at hitting the regime “very hard where it hurts,” according to remarks reported by multiple outlets
