EU sanctions elite Iran commander over 2019 protests

Head of the elite Revolutionary Guards among eight Iranian militia commanders and police chiefs sanctioned.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on eight Iranian militia commanders and police chiefs, including the head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, over a deadly crackdown in November 2019, the bloc said in its official journal. The travel bans and asset freezes are the first EU sanctions on Iran for human rights abuses since 2013. The bloc, which also hit three Iranian prisons with asset freezes, blacklisted Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful and heavily armed security force in the Islamic republic.