TEHRAN, December 13. /TASS/. The Iranian authorities have added more than 20 US citizens to their own sanctions list related to human rights violations, Judiciary Deputy for International Affairs and Human Rights and Secretary General of Iran's Human Rights Office Kazem Gharibabadi said on Monday.

"The American regime does not have the right to carry the banner of human rights and introduce, on that ground, sanctions against states. Proceeding from this we decided to add individuals and legal entities in the US, that are involved in violations of human rights, to our own sanction list" he said as quoted by the Young Journalists' Club.

According to Garibabadi, "this list includes more than 20 individuals and legal entities." "Even if we do not have a strong financial base to impose sanctions on the United States, we can at least name people who violate human rights," he added.

On December 9, Garibabadi announced that the Iranian authorities were going to draw up a sanctions list of companies and US citizens who are involved in situations of serious human rights violations.

On December 7, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions against Iran.

This time the sanctions affected seven Iranian individuals and two law enforcement agencies of the country. As the State Department specified, restrictions in accordance with section 106 of the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) were introduced against two individuals who, according to Washington, are responsible for violations of internationally recognized human rights in Iran, as well as two prisons in the cities of Zahedan and Isfahan. According to the State Department, these penal institutions are responsible for extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detention.