Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has announced an expansion of
sanctions on Iran.

The administration of President Barack Obama said it ordered sanctions
on Iran beyond those on that nation’s energy sector. On Feb. 6, the
administration imposed measures on those involved in Iranian government
censorship.

“We will also target those in Iran who are responsible for human rights
abuses, especially those who deny the Iranian people their basic freedoms of expression, assembly and speech,” Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen said.

Treasury announced the designation of an Iranian as well as four
entities alleged to have helped Teheran’s censorship policy. Officials said the sanctions, imposed in cooperation with the State Department, marked the implementation of a 2012 law — Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 — that went into effect on Feb. 6.

“This provision will significantly increase economic pressure on Iran by
restricting Iran’s repatriation of oil revenue,” Treasury said. “In addition to effectively ‘locking up’ Iranian oil revenue overseas, this provision
sharply restricts Iran’s use of this revenue for bilateral trade and
severely limits Iran’s ability to move funds across jurisdictions.”

The targets for the latest sanctions included the state-owned Islamic
Republic of Iran Broadcasting and its director, as well as three other
entities in Iran. The director was identified as Ezzatollah Zarghami, said
to have used state broadcasts, including false news reports, to trample
dissent.

“Additionally, Iran is engaged in a campaign to filter out unwanted TV
content and broadcast its own propaganda,” Treasury said.

Treasury also cited the Iranian Cyber Police, formed in 2009 and
assigned to monitor and hack websites and e-mail accounts. Officials said
the cyber police increased filtering of Facebook and prosecuted dissident
bloggers.

The others listed in the latest sanctions were Iran’s Communications
Regulatory Authority , accused of blocking Internet access to foreign news
agencies, and the Iran Electronics Industries. Iran Electronic was said to
have produced satellite jamming to prevent access to foreign broadcasts.

“As of 2011, the Iranian government has been able to monitor
text-messaging services via a monitoring system installed by IEI,” Treasury
said.

  David Cohen, Iran’s repatriaton of oil revenue, Iranian Cyber Police, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Treasury: Expanded sanctions will ‘lock up’ Iran’s overseas oil revenue