Twelve senior officials described as key players within Iran’s infrastructure of repression should be targeted when President Donald Trump reimposes sanctions next month, an influential US think tank said in a report on Tuesday.
The 12 – who include ministers, a former presidential candidate and senior judicial officials – are complicit in funnelling funds for terrorist plots abroad, forced confessions and the torture of rights activists, according to a conservative think tank with strong links to the Trump administration.
The list includes the ministers of intelligence, interior and justice who have responsibility for cracking down on dissent within Iran, said the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
It says the 12 officials should be individually targeted using the Magnitsky Act, legislation passed in 2016 to target human rights offenders around the world, to freeze their assets and ban them from entering the United States.
Many of those identified in the report came to prominence under Hassan Rouhani, who became president in 2013, and had a history of rights abuse. “They rose within the Iranian bureaucracy because of their abuses, not in spite of them,” the report said.
The US has imposed restrictions on 55 entities and individuals for human rights breaches under the Trump and Obama administrations.
New designations slowed in the run-up to the 2015 nuclear deal, which has now been dumped by Mr Trump, clearing the way for an uptick in sanctions, said the FDD.
It said that many of the worst offenders remained untouched by sanctions and individual targeting of key regime leaders has the “potential to strengthen the morale of protesters, raise the concern of other democratic governments and undermine the self-serving narratives promoted by the regime”.
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They include Ebrahim Raisi, a former presidential candidate and conservative cleric who was complicit in the killings of thousands regime opponents in 1988.
The current minister of intelligence, Mahmoud Alavi, is also on the list. He has not been sanctioned despite two previous incumbents and the ministry all sanctioned by the Obama regime.
The FDD also identified Abolghassem Salavati, one of the harshest figures in Iran’s judiciary, who has overseen the case of Iranian-British charity administrator Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was jailed in 2016 for what her supporters say are trumped charges of acting against the clerical regime.
Gholamhossein Gheibparvar, the head of the Basij religious police, which has been at the vanguard of efforts to subdue protests against the clerical leadership, is also on the list. It includes senior prison and education figures and officials who harnessed technology to crack down on nationwide protests from 2017.
Bill Browder, an investor turned campaigner who was behind the Magnitsky Act following the death of one of his employers in Russia, said the best way to change regime behaviour was to “create a climate of fear… and to go after them individually”.
The US has used the Magnitsky Act more than 120 times against targets in countries including Myanmar, Nicaragua, Russia and China but has not yet been used against Iran, said Mr Browder.
But with senior regime figures keeping assets in Iran and rarely travelling abroad, critics said that any strengthening of targeted sanctions would amount to “political grandstanding” that would have little impact on policy in Tehran.
The key to changing Iranian attitudes is for European powers to bargain hard for reforms as they negotiate plans for continued trade and investment in return for limitations on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.
The FDD said it was optimistic that the Trump administration would act on its recommendations. “The feedback we have received in private discussions so far has been positive,” said Tzvi Kahn, the author of the report and FDD senior Iran analyst.
In a speech in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that regime leaders “must be made to feel painful consequences of their bad decision making” but stopped short of promising fresh sanctions against individuals.
In the speech in California, he named several senior Iranian officials already subject to sanctions including Sadiq Larijani, the head of Iran’s judiciary.
“I’m a little sceptical that a thieving thug under international sanctions is the right man to be Iran’s highest-ranking judicial official,” he said.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Bio
Favourite Emirati dish: I have so many because it has a lot of herbs and vegetables. Harees (oats with chicken) is one of them
Favourite place to go to: Dubai Mall because it has lots of sports shops.
Her motivation: My performance because I know that whatever I do, if I put the effort in, I’ll get results
During her free time: I like to drink coffee - a latte no sugar and no flavours. I do not like cold drinks
Pet peeve: That with every meal they give you a fries and Pepsi. That is so unhealthy
Advice to anyone who wants to be an ironman: Go for the goal. If you are consistent, you will get there. With the first one, it might not be what they want but they should start and just do it
INFO
What: DP World Tour Championship
When: November 21-24
Where: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Results
57kg quarter-finals
Zakaria Eljamari (UAE) beat Hamed Al Matari (YEM) by points 3-0.
60kg quarter-finals
Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) beat Hyan Aljmyah (SYR) RSC round 2.
63.5kg quarter-finals
Nouredine Samir (UAE) beat Shamlan A Othman (KUW) by points 3-0.
67kg quarter-finals
Mohammed Mardi (UAE) beat Ahmad Ondash (LBN) by points 2-1.
71kg quarter-finals
Ahmad Bahman (UAE) defeated Lalthasanga Lelhchhun (IND) by points 3-0.
Amine El Moatassime (UAE) beat Seyed Kaveh Safakhaneh (IRI) by points 3-0.
81kg quarter-finals
Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Ahmad Hilal (PLE) by points 3-0
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The specs: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
Price, base / as tested Dh222,500 / Dh296,870
Engine 2.0L, flat four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed PDK
Power 300hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque 380hp @ 1,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.9L / 100km
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Power: 420 bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: from Dh293,200
On sale: now
