Iran on Tuesday strongly condemned sanctions imposed by the European Union and Britain and said it would retaliate.
The West on Monday stepped up pressure on Iran over its crackdown on protests as the United States, European Union, and the United Kingdom imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran.
The actions, which reflect a deterioration in the West's already dire relations with Tehran in recent months, are the latest response to Iran's deadly clampdown on unrest after the death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in September.
The protests by Iranians from all walks of life mark one of the boldest challenges to the ruling theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran accuses Western powers of fomenting the unrest, which security forces have met with deadly violence.
The United States targeted the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and senior officials in its action, which imposed sanctions on the IRGC Cooperative Foundation and five of its board members, Deputy Minister of Intelligence and Security Naser Rashedi and four senior IRGC commanders in Iran.
The U.S. Treasury Department said the action targets a "key economic pillar of the IRGC, which funds much of the regime’s brutal suppression; as well as senior security officials coordinating Tehran’s crackdown at the national and provincial levels."
Washington has accused the IRGC of continuing to aggressively crack down on peaceful demonstrations and said it has played "a leading role in suppressing protests through extensive human rights abuses."
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