By Nohad Topalian | 2026-01-23

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions on January 15 targeting architects of the Islamic Republic regime’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also acted against shadow banking networks tied to the Islamic Republic regime.

These networks enable the Islamic Republic’s ruling elite to steal and launder revenue generated from the country’s natural resources.

Among the sanctioned figures is Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS)

The Treasury Department said Larijani was among the first leaders to call for violence against the Iranian people’s legitimate demands.

"The United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice," Bessent wrote in a post on X.

The sanctions aim to weaken the Islamic Republic regime’s ability to fund proxies and constrain its missile and nuclear programs.

Crackdown on peaceful protesters

Several senior officials of the Islamic Republic have also been designated for their role in overseeing the security forces violently suppressing peaceful protesters.

They bear direct responsibility for the killing and injuring of thousands of Iranians demanding basic freedoms and protesting the rising cost of living.

Specifically, Larijani publicly called security forces to use force against protesters on behalf of the Supreme Leader.

"The sanctions are aimed at curbing the [Islamic Republic] regime's ability to suppress and kill protesters, and at exposing its fragility and inability to lead Iran towards stability and development," Hassan Qutb, director of the Lebanese Center for Research and Consulting told Pishtaz.

Public funds theft

The sanctions also sought to punish the Islamic Republic's elite for stealing public funds to finance the brutal suppression of protesters.

Billions of dollars in oil and petrochemical revenues are diverted by the Islamic Republic regime through shadow banking networks to finance its brutal security forces and terrorism abroad.

Qutb said that sanctioning those who steal the Iranian people's money "weakens the [Islamic Republic] regime's instruments and its capacity to sow unrest and chaos in neighboring countries and the Middle East."

It may also compel the Islamic Republic to focus internally to contain protests and ease citizens' financial and living hardships, he added.

Political writer Marwan al-Amin called the sanctions "the last chance to hold the [Islamic Republic] regime accountable before taking actual steps toward military intervention or any other action."

While Iranians struggle with hunger and a collapsing currency, the Islamic Republic ignores their suffering, persisting in violence that has killed and injured thousands.