News - Middle East: The United States has imposed a new round of sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian individuals and entities, including the English-language Press TV news network, over groundless accusations of “human rights abuses” on the eve of the anniversary of Western-backed riots in the country.

The US Department of Treasury announced in a press release on its website on Friday that the bans targeted 29 individuals and entities in connection with what it claimed was “violent suppression of nationwide protests” following the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman of Kurdish descent who lost her life in police custody in the capital Tehran September last year.
The sanctions were levied against 18 top members of Iran’s security forces, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the police as well as the head of the Iranian Prisons' Organization. The bans were also imposed on three individuals and one company in connection with Iran’s telecoms ministry.
The Tehran-based Press TV news channel and the two media outlets of Fars News and Tasnim and three of their senior officials were also targeted with sanctions.
The latest sanctions are the US Treasury’s 13th round of designations in connection with the foreign-backed riots that began last September.
The sanctions freeze the US-based assets of the targeted individuals and companies and ban Americans from dealing with them.
The fresh US sanctions came two days after the Australian government imposed bans on a number of Iranian individuals and entities, including Press TV, in yet another attack spearheaded by the West against freedom of speech in Iran.