The European Union sanctioned five Iranian judges over alleged human rights violations, as well as a leading figure in a cyber group accused of helping the regime suppress information, the EU Council said on Friday.
The Council said it had sanctioned Nima Salehi, the Iranian founder of the Ashiyane cyber group, which it said cooperates closely with the EU-listed Cyber Police (FATA) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The statement did not specify the names of the sanctioned judges.
“As Tehran intensifies its domestic crackdown, the EU will continue to hold those responsible to account,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said in a statement on social media platform X.
The European Union has so far sanctioned 269 individuals and 53 related entities.
The United States on Friday announced further sanctions against nine firms and four individuals associated with sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani for their efforts to evade US sanctions.
The US Treasury Department said the new designations target Zanjani’s Iran-based operations under his “Dot One” conglomerate and several firms based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that have supported his already designated digital asset exchanges, as well as top executives at those firms.
Treasury said Zanjani had leveraged a diverse portfolio that includes financial services, digital asset trading and gold and precious gem production, along with major infrastructure projects, to launder revenue and move funds covertly for Iran.
“The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with the rial plunging to another record low and inflation up massively,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Treasury will continue cutting off economic access for corrupt Iranian regime elites, along with their financiers and facilitators.”
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control first designated Zanjani and his two largest digital asset projects, Zedcex Exchange Limited (Zedcex) and Zedxion Exchange Limited (Zedxion) in January.
Source:
www.jpost.com
