In brief
- The Australian government has sanctioned seven senior Iranian officials and four entities.
- The sanctions include financial penalties and travel bans.
Australia is imposing targeted financial penalties and travel bans on senior Iranian officials responsible for the oppression of women and girls under the regime's crackdown on society.
Seven Iranians and four entities are being sanctioned in response to Iran's "brutal" ongoing oppression of its people, in addition to the wrongful detention of foreigners, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced on Tuesday.
Independent estimates suggest Iranian forces killed more than 30,000 people as protests erupted throughout the country in January. Iranian government figures put that number much lower.
The sanctioned officials included interior minister Eskandar Momeni, who is also deputy commander in chief of the law enforcement forces, which is responsible for the deaths of the protesters.
Ruhollah Nasab is another high-ranking official targeted by Australia's sanctions, for his role in deploying 80,000 forces to ensure mandatory hijab-wearing by Iranian women and surveil their dress in schools, universities, public spaces and online.
The sanctions will also target Iran's shadow banking system, which allows it to fund proxies such as Hamas — which Australia considers a terrorist organisation — and support its ballistic missile program.
The Albanese government has so far imposed more than 230 sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities.
The announcement on Tuesday was made alongside the United Kingdom's sanctions on Iran.
Wong said Australia will continue its work with international partners to hold the regime to account for its "egregious campaign of oppression and destabilisation".
"Australia continues to stand with the brave people of Iran against a brutal, oppressive regime," she said.
Although the sanctions target Iran's destabilising actions throughout the Middle East, they are not in direct response to the retaliatory strikes in the US-led war.
The strikes launched by the US and Israel have resulted in the effective closure of one of the world's most important oil corridors, the Strait of Hormuz, sending the price of fuel soaring globally.
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