On the 40th anniversary of the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran and the hostage crisis, US treasury sanctioned nine individuals in the inner circle of the leader of the Islamic Republic, including his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. The General Staff of the Joint Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has also been added to the list of sanctions.

The new list of US sanctions has included:

• Mojtaba Khamenei, the leader’s son
•  Mohammad Mohammadi Golpaygani, the leader’s chief of staff
•  Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei’s international affairs adviser
•  and Vahid Haghanian, deputy of special affairs at the office of the leader also referred to as Khamenei’s right hand
•  Ebrahim Raisi, the recently appointed chief of the judiciary
•  Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, Khamenei’s friend and relative and former speaker of the parliament
•  Mohammad Bagheri, the chairman of General Staff of the Joint Armed forces
•  Two IRGC commanders Gholam-Ali Rashid and Hossein Dehghan

The US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement: “Today the Treasury Department is targeting the unelected officials who surround Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and implement his destabilizing policies.”

"These individuals are linked to a wide range of malign behaviors by the regime, including bombings of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in 1994, as well as torture, extrajudicial killings, and repression of civilians," Mnuchin added.

The White House released a statement on Monday warning that as long as the Islamic Republic continues its behavior, the United States will increase sanctions against Iran.

The statement, released on the anniversary of the attack on the American embassy which led to 444 days of the hostage crisis, continues: “Today, we honor the victims of this brazen act. The Iranian regime continues to target innocent civilians for use as pawns in its failed foreign relations."