The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) marked International Women's Day by imposing sanctions on several Iranian regime officials and entities for various violations of human rights, the agency announced March 8.
“The U.S. stands in solidarity with women of Iran, who remain undaunted despite the Iranian regime's brutality. On International Women’s Day, in coordination with allies, we sanctioned additional Iranian officials & companies involved in human rights abuses,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a tweet on March 8.
Among those sanctioned are two senior officials in Iran’s prison system responsible for abuses against women and girls; the top commander of the Iranian army; a high-ranking leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; an Iranian official involved in efforts to block internet access; and three Iranian companies and their leaders for enabling violent repression by the Iranian Law Enforcement Forces "of peaceful protesters, including many women and girls," according to the Treasury Department.
"Marking International Women’s Day," the department stated in the announcement, "Treasury is taking this action in coordination with allies and partners — the European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia — demonstrating a unified commitment to holding the Iranian regime to account for denying the women and girls of Iran their human rights and dignity."
In a statement to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on International Women's Day, Neil Bush, the United Kingdom’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the OSCE, outlined the U.K.’s commitments to gender equality and the launch of the International Women and Girls Strategy.
Bush highlighted the importance of empowering women and girls to build secure, prosperous, and peaceful societies. He noted the progress toward gender equality and emphasized that much work remains to be done, particularly in addressing the disproportionate impact of conflict and crisis on women and girls.
“Advancing gender equality is not just the right thing to do – it is a policy from which everyone benefits," Bush said in the statement. "Greater gender equality is the fundamental building block of all healthy democracies. It brings freedom, boosts prosperity and trade, strengthens global and regional security, and builds resilience."
