The U.S. designated “Iran’s Interior Minister for his role in serious human rights abuses against Iranians, as well as seven senior officials of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) and a provincial commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)”. Also sanctioned was “Bonyad Taavon NAJA, which is translated as LEF Cooperative Foundation, along with its director and members of the board of trustees”. According to the Treasury Department, the foundation is “controlled by the LEF and is active in Iran’s energy, construction, services, technology and banking industries”. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the action was “a message of support to the Iranian people that we will continue to support their demands for transparent and accountable governance and speak out for those who are being silenced by this regime”. He further urged “technology companies in the U.S. and globally to do their part to improve the free flow of information to the Iranian people”.  Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson argued that the designations “indicate the weakness, desperation and confusion of the U.S. regime” and were “another blatant violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231”.