US prosecutes two Iranian officials for ‘genuine violations of rights’ | Human Rights News

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Biden’s administrative move prevents two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Group from entering the U.S.

The United States has allowed two officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Group (IRGC) to engage in human rights violations against Iranian political prisoners and activists.

In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari, who they said are IRGC interrogators, and their close families would be barred from entering the country.

The department accused the pair of being involved in “genuine human rights violations, namely torture and / or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of political prisoners and detainees. in 2019 and 2020 in Iran ”.

“The United States will continue to hold violators accountable,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted.

The move comes as U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration and the Iranian government embark on efforts to return to a nuclear deal in 2015 that saw Tehran thwart its nuclear program as trade in international sanctions.

Former Biden Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign that saw the U.S. impose economic sanctions on the country.

Iran has rejected Biden’s administration’s request to return to full compliance with the nuclear deal first, instead calling on the U.S. as the party that left the agreement to make the first move and its sanctions built.

Biden is also under pressure at home about his plans to return to the agreement and go back diplomatically with Iran.

More than 100 U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties on Tuesday urged the administration to “seek an agreement or set of agreements with Iran that is broad in nature to address the full range of threats that Iran poses. bring to the area “.

“America and our allies must engage in Iran through a combination of diplomatic instruments and sanctions to fully comply with international obligations and a proven commitment by Iran to address its malignant behavior,” they said in a letter. to Blinken.

In an apparent response to the letter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Tuesday that the 2015 nuclear deal – formally known as the Joint Integrated Action Plan, or JCPOA – was “the complete plan”.

The “C” stands for COMPREHENSIVE, ”he tweeted.

“It was implemented only by Iran.” Instead of postage, USA & E3 [UK, Germany and France] they must ultimately conform to the promises made, but not fulfilled. “

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