Among them Khamenei's son .. America punishes senior Iranian figures 40th anniversary of the storming of its embassy

The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting nine senior figures and one entity in Iran on the 40th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran.

The US sanctions come hours after Tehran announced the operation of 30 advanced sixth-generation centrifuges at a nuclear facility.

US sanctions included the General Staff of the Iranian armed forces and its president, Mohammad Baqeri, and former Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Treasury Department said in a statement on Monday that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the Iranian leader, was among the figures included in the sanctions.

Targeting Khamenei's son
The statement added that Khamenei's son was included in the sanctions list because he "represents the Supreme Leader officially, despite not being chosen or appointed to a government post at all."

Among the targets of the sanctions are also Ibrahim Ebrahim Raisi, head of Iran's judiciary, Mohammad Mohammadi Kalbaikani, head of the Supreme Leader's office, Wahid Haghanian, a senior aide to Khamenei, as well as Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the father of Mojtaba Khamenei's wife and an adviser to the Iranian leader.

"This action further limits the supreme leader's ability to carry out his policy of terrorism and repression," US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said in the statement.

He explained that "the Treasury today targets non-elected officials from the circle surrounding the Iranian leader who are implementing his policies destabilizing."

Messages in memory of the crisis
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new sanctions were aimed at preventing money from reaching "the hidden external and military networks of Khamenei's advisers who suppressed the Iranian people, supported terrorism and carried out subversive policies around the world."

He said two of those targeted were linked to the 1983 bombing of the US Marine headquarters in Beirut and the 1994 bombing of the Israel-Israel Joint Society.

Forty years after Iran held 50 US diplomats at its embassy in Tehran for 444 days, "the IRGC is still practicing evil, the Iranian regime continues to unlawfully detain Americans and supports terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, which has engaged in detention," he said. Hostages. "

The US sanctions came hours after the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, announced that 30 advanced sixth-generation centrifuges had been activated at the Natanz nuclear facility.

Salehi said that the challenges faced by Iran as a result of US policies led to this decision. The announcement comes in the context of Tehran's strategy to gradually reduce its commitments in the nuclear agreement with world powers in 2015, in response to the policy of extreme pressure adopted by the US administration against it.

The European Commission has urged Iran to reverse its decision, saying the EU remains committed to the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Crowds in front of the embassy
In the meantime, thousands of Iranians rallied in front of the former US embassy in Tehran to mark the 40th anniversary of its storming.

The demonstrators chanted slogans condemning US policy against Iran. A group of students burned Israeli and American flags, the Fars news agency reported.

Hundreds of demonstrators also marched against the United States in other Iranian provinces.