BEIRUT, December 22. /TASS/. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani criticized the Biden administration on Thursday for additional sanctions against Tehran over the ongoing street protests in the Islamic republic.
"The government of [US President] Joe Biden continues its bankrupt policy of exerting maximum pressure on Iran while managing to shed crocodile tears over the fate of rioters," the IRNA news agency quoted the diplomat as saying.
Kanaani stressed that "allies and defenders of terrorists in the West should shut their mouths and think about the accumulated crises from which their own people suffer."
On Wednesday, the US imposed sanctions against Imen Sanat Zaman Fara, an Iranian company that makes armored vehicles, and several individuals because of the protests in Iran. In a statement posted on the US Treasury Department's website, it said the restrictions affected the Iranian Prosecutor General, also referred to as the Attorney General, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri. Hossein Maroufi, Deputy Coordinator of the Basij (militia - TASS), and Moslem Mo’in, chief of the Basij Cyberspace Headquarters, were also put on the list.
According to the IRNA news agency, this time the US sanctions were timed to coincide with the ancient Iranian holiday of Shab-e Yalda, celebrated on the longest night of the year during the winter solstice.
Street protests
A wave of protests broke out in Iran on September 17 after the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. According to the official version, police detained Amini for an improperly worn hijab. When questioned, she had a heart attack, which resulted in her death. Social media reported, however, that Amini had been beaten by the police. On October 7, Iran’s National Forensic Medical Organization published an official report on the girl's death which stressed that she had not been injured.
According to the Saudi newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, rallies and marches in two and a half months engulfed 157 cities and towns. Demonstrators called for democratic change, condemned the repression by the authorities, and demanded the release of those arrested. According to the newspaper, more than 18,000 people have been detained in Iran since mid-September in total. Some 59 activists and 49 law enforcement officers were killed in suppressing the riots.