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Iranwire – The Iranian government says it has summoned the Australian chargé d’affaires to protest what it described as an “interventionist statement” and a new round of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In a statement issued on September 13, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Penny Wong, announced that her country was imposing financial sanctions and travel bans on “four individuals and three entities responsible for the oppression of people in Iran, including women and girls.”
On September 14, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Australian embassy’s charges d’affaires to express the Islamic Republic’s “strong objections” against “the interventionist statement as well as the sanctions.”
Australia’s announcement marked the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s arrest in Tehran, which was followed by her death in police custody three days later.
The tragedy sparked months of nationwide protests and a brutal state crackdown in which hundreds of people were killed and thousands were arrested.
The individuals sanctioned by Australia include police spokesperson Saeed Montazer Al-Mahdi, who the statement said “repeatedly made intimidating and threatening statements towards Iranian women and girls for purportedly violating Iran’s mandatory veiling laws.”
The entities targeted include Iran’s cyber police, which Australia said are “central to obstructing freedom of expression through restricting internet activity in Iran,” and state-owned Press TV, which has broadcast “the forced confessions of Iranians and dual-nationals who are detained and tried under politically motivated judicial procedures.”
The European Union, the United States, Australia and other countries have issued several rounds of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in recent months over its crackdown on the anti-government protests and its supply of drones to Russia for its war effort in Ukraine.
