The United States has added several Islamic Republic officials and entities to its secondary sanctions list including Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, and Hossein Ashtari, the chief of police of Iran for their role in serious violations of human rights and crackdown of dissidents.

The US Treasury Department’s statement says that Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli is accused of "using lethal force" in response to protests in November 2019 and "his orders led to the killing of many protestors, including at least 23 minors."

U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a news conference: “His evil command killed Iranian citizens. We are proud to meet out what justice we can on behalf of the slain and silenced inside of Iran."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US will "continue to hold accountable Iranian officials and institutions that oppress and abuse their own people."

Other people on the list include Mohammad Ali Nourinejad, the deputy of coordination of police, Hamidreza Eshragh, the legal deputy of the police, Habil Darvish, the chairman of police Cooperative Foundation, Mohsen Fat’hizadeh, the chief of intelligence security for the police, Yahya Mahmoudzadeh, deputy of engineering for the police Hossein Shahvarpour, the commander of IRGC for Khuzestan province, and Ayoub Solaimani, deputy of planning and budget for the joint armed forces.

The Central prison of the Greater Tehran (Fashashuyeh), Qarchak prison, and the Cooperative Foundation of the Police Force are the entities that were also included in the sanctions.

Those mentioned on the sanctions list will have any of their assets and properties under US jurisdiction blocked and American businesses and individuals will be prohibited from engaging in financial transactions with them