Iran Blacklists Trump and Nine Other American Officials

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it has placed the US President and a number of former and current senior United States officials on its list of sanctions.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday, January 19 that the ministry had imposed sanctions on 10 senior US officials, including Donald Trump, authorizing the government to seize any assets Trump and the other officials have in Iran.

The announcement came on the last day of Trump’s presidency, and was largely thought to be a symbolic gesture. Trump and the other individuals are not expected to have any assets in Iran, so the move is unlikely to have any financial impact. It is also not expected that any of those appearing on the list have plans to travel to the Islamic Republic. 

Khatibzadeh said the sanctions against the US officials were part of a bill passed by parliament entitled "Countering Human Rights Violations and US Adventurist and Terrorist Actions in the Region".

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of Defense Mark Speer, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Terner Mnuchin, and Gina Haspel, who before her resignation on January 19 was the Director of the CIA, also appear on the list. Pompeo and Miller will be replaced soon after the inauguration of Joe Biden and the establishment of a new government administration in the US.

Khatibzadeh says Iran had placed sanctions on other US officials too. "John Bolton, former national security adviser, Brian Hook, former head of the Action Group against Iran, former US State Department special envoy to Iran, Elliott Abrams, and Andrea Gaki, head of the Foreign Assets Control Bureau of the United States, are also on the list,” he said.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a key reason for the blacklisting was Trump's and other senior officials’ role in the assassination of Ghasem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force.

According to the Iranian parliament resolution, "all their property and assets" will be confiscated "in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Republic of Iran" and "their bank accounts" in Iran will be frozen.

The resolution also says the individuals on the sanctions list will be denied visas and entry into Iran.