The US Treasury Department blacklisted 9 people close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, including his son.

"The Treasury Department today targets non-election officials around Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who implemented his destabilizing policy," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. 4/11.

Among the people blacklisted this time is Chief Justice Chief Justice Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani and Vahid Haghanian, who is considered the right hand of the Supreme Leader.

Ebrahim Raisi, who was appointed by Khamenei to lead the judiciary in March 2019 and Mojtaba Khamenei, Khamenei's second son, is also on the sanctions list, the US Treasury Department said. The agency also imposed sanctions on the General Staff Department of the Iranian armed forces.

U.S. Treasury officials said the sanctions were designed to target the financial assets of military and diplomatic advisers close to Khamenei, blockade of assets held by those in the United States, and ban them. transactions related to those assets.

The embargo was issued on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Iranian occupation of the US embassy in Tehran, leaving more than 60 Americans hostage for 444 days.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Abbas Mousavi called the sanctions "a sign of US despair and powerlessness in using diplomatic channels and proper direction" for international affairs, according to the news agency. Iran state (IRNA).

The US State Department on October 31 announced new sanctions on Iran's construction industry and trading of four "strategic materials" of the country. In response to the sanctions, Khamenei then decided not to abolish the ban on negotiating with the US "enemy" until the US returned to the nuclear deal and lifted all sanctions.

Tensions between the two countries increased last year when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015, while imposing sanctions on oil exports and isolating Iran's economy.