US sanctions Iran foundation used to fund protest crackdown

The US Treasury Department imposed fresh sanctions on an Iranian foundation it said is used as a slush fund by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with efforts to quash anti-government protests.

Senior IRGC members have used the IRGC Cooperative Foundation to carry out human rights abuses, including suppressing protests, and the foundation become a “wellspring of corruption and graft,” according to Treasury.

“Along with our partners, we will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable so long as it relies upon violence, sham trials, the execution of protesters, and other means of suppressing its people,” the under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

The Treasury also sanctioned five of the foundation’s board members as well as four IRGC officers and an intelligence minister for alleged human rights abuses linked to the protests.

The foundation was previously sanctioned under authorities related to counter-terrorism and nuclear proliferation but was re-designated under an executive order related to human rights abuses in response to protests that have erupted across Iran following the death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman who’d been detained for allegedly violating Islamic dress codes.