US imposes sanctions on Iran's interior minister, businessman

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The ⁠United States ⁠on ‍Friday imposed sanctions on Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and a businessman it said helped launder ‍money for Tehran, as President Donald Trump's administration ​ramps up pressure on the Islamic Republic.

The Department of the Treasury, announcing ​the move, said Momeni was responsible for a brutal security crackdown in Iran this month as he oversees law enforcement forces it said ​were responsible for the deaths of thousands of peaceful protesters.

Trump has in recent weeks issued threats to intervene ​in Iran over the bloody suppression of the protests and has sent warships ‌to the Middle East, even as he has said he plans to talk with the government ​there.

The financial sanctions on Friday also ⁠targeted five other Iranian security officials involved in "violently repressing the Iranian people", the Treasury said ‌in a statement.

Sanctions were also issued against investor Babak Zanjani and two digital asset exchanges registered in Britain that the Treasury ‌said had processed funds linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Treasury ‌Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. would continue to target Iranian elites and their networks, who he said exploit digital assets to evade ‍sanctions and finance cybercriminal operations.

"Like rats on a sinking ship, the regime is frantically wiring ⁠funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Rest assured, Treasury will act," Bessent said in the statement.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Katharine Jackson and Daphne Psaledakis; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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