The European Union, United States, and Britain stepped up their sanction regimes against Iran for human rights violations, with the focus set on the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) military force.
The European Council on April 24 said it was placing sanctions on eight individuals, with most linked to the IRGC and its financial arm and on telecom company Ariantel, which it said plays a key role in government efforts to "quash dissent and critical voices in Iran."
Separately, the U.S. Treasury said it was targeting four IRGC members with a fresh set of sanctions, while Britain said it was implementing a travel ban and asset freeze on four members of the IRGC and the IRGC "in its entirety."
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the moves were made in coordination with the United States and EU, but he did not provide specifics on the international cooperation.
Pressure from parliaments and activists has grown on the EU and the British government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, but they have so far declined to do so, although dozens of individuals linked to the elite military force have been hit with sanctions.
The European Parliament, which in January called on the EU and its member states to designate the IRGC a terrorist organization, has blamed the IRGC for the repression of protesters and for supplying drones to Russia's military for use in Ukraine.
The United States has already done so, labeling the IRGC a "designated foreign terrorist organization" in 2019.
The EU action means that any assets that the sanctioned individuals hold inside the EU are frozen and that they will be banned from travel to the bloc. EU firms are barred from making funds available to sanctioned persons or firms.
"The European Union and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to stop any form of violent crackdown against peaceful protests, cease their resort to arbitrary detentions as a means of silencing critical voices, and release all those unjustly detained," the EU Council said.
"The EU calls on Iran to end the practice of imposing and carrying out death sentences against protesters, reverse the death penalty sentences pronounced, as well as provide due process to all detainees. The EU also calls upon Iran to end the distressing practice of detaining foreign civilians with a view to making political gains."
Iran was hit by mass protests in support of freedoms and human rights after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after being detained for allegedly violating the strict Islamic dress code for women.
The U.S. Treasury said it was imposing sanctions on four senior officials of the Law Enforcement Forces of Iran (LEF) and the IRGC -- which it called "the primary Iranian security forces responsible for the regime’s brutal suppression of the protests that broke out in September 2022."
Later, the U.S. State Department said it was also "taking action to impose visa restrictions...on 11 Iranian government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, the abuse, detention, or killing of peaceful protesters or inhibiting their rights to freedom of expression or peaceful assembly."
Britain's Foreign Office said its latest action targeted four IRGC commanders "under whose leadership IRGC forces have opened fired on unarmed protesters resulting in numerous deaths, including of children."
"The Iranian regime are responsible for the brutal repression of the Iranian people and for exporting bloodshed around the world," Foreign Secretary Cleverly said.