The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on five Iranian officials it accused of being behind the crackdown on protests and said it was tracking Iranian leaders’ funds being wired to international banks, as President Donald Trump keeps the pressure on Tehran.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps and law enforcement forces commanders, accusing them of being architects of the crackdown.
The US also imposed sanctions on Fardis Prison, where the State Department said women had “endured cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a video on Thursday said Washington’s message to Iran’s leaders was clear: “US Treasury knows, that like rats on a sinking ship, you are frantically wiring funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Rest assured, we will track them and you.
“But there’s still time, if you choose to join us. As President Trump has said, stop the violence and stand with the people of Iran.”
Earlier in the day, Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait-and-see posture after previously threatening intervention.
Meanwhile, after Iran’s foreign minister said Iran had “no plan” to hang people, Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence.
Rights organisation Hengaw, which reported earlier this week that Erfan Soltani was due to be executed on Wednesday, said a previously communicated order for his execution had been postponed, citing his relatives.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump responded to a news report that an Iranian protester was no longer being sentenced to death, writing: “This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”
Iranian state media said that while Soltani was being charged with colluding against “internal security and propaganda activities against the regime”, the death penalty does not apply to such charges.
Araghchi also said the Iranian government was “in full control” and reported an atmosphere of “calm” after what he called three days of “terrorist operation”.
The British government said its embassy in Tehran had been “temporarily closed”, while the US embassy in Saudi Arabia urged staff to exercise caution and avoid military installations.
Iran’s judiciary chief vowed to fast-track trials for those arrested, stoking fears authorities will use capital punishment as a tool of repression.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene on behalf of protesters in Iran, where the Iranian leadership has cracked down hard on nationwide unrest since December 28.
Reuters quoted a Gulf official as saying that four Arab states conducted intense diplomacy with the United States and Iran this week to prevent a threatened US attack on Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Egypt were involved in the diplomacy over 48 hours before Trump signalled on Thursday that he had ultimately decided against an attack for now, saying the killings in Iran were easing.
The four countries had conveyed to Washington that any attack would have consequences for the wider region in terms of both security and economics that would ultimately impact the United States itself, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
They told Iran that any retaliatory attack it launched on US facilities in the Gulf would have consequences for Tehran’s relations with other countries in the region, the official added.
Saudi Arabia’s international media office, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Oman’s Information Ministry and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates, which was not involved in the diplomacy described by the official, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it had engaged in any diplomacy on the issue.
People inside the country, reached by Reuters on Wednesday and Thursday, said the protests appear to have abated since Monday.
Information flows have been hampered by an internet blackout for a week.
Tensions had escalated on Wednesday, with Iran saying it had warned neighbours it would hit American bases in the region in the event of US strikes, and a US official saying the United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the region.
Trump, speaking at the White House, said he has been told that killings in the crackdown were subsiding.
Asked who told him that the killings had stopped, Trump described them as “very important sources on the other side”.