US Sanctions on 8 Iranian Officials

On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced it would be blacklisting eight Iranian officials for their role in last year's violent suppression of anti-government protesters after Iran's disputed election.  Among the sanctioned are the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the minister of welfare and social security, and several intelligence officers.  As part of the sanctions, the US will freeze foreign assets and deny visas to these eight people.  Additionally, this is the first time that the US has cited human-rights abuse as the grounds for sanctions.

After reading this article (read here) by Mark Landler, I am left with mixed feelings on the matter.  For starters, I applaud the Obama administration in its new "pressure campaign" against Tehran, for when Iranian mobs first protested the election last year, the administration did little in publicly criticizing the Iranian government.  Certainly, this may seem like a small step to many (especially over the course of a year), but it is at least some progress forward.

I also like this move because I think it sends a message to the Iranian population that human-rights issues are a concern of those in Washington.  Those blacklisted have been accused of "ordering the arbitrary arrests, beating, torture, rape, blackmail and killing of Iranian citizens" since the 2009 election.  These sanctions tell the people that these actions aren't being ignored, that they do have some form of support in Washington.  This is good.

With that said, however, I am forced to question just how effective these sanctions will be.  Of course, the US (along with the UN and Europe) have placed tougher sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program, but the results of these have been mixed.  So how effective can sanctions against eight officials be?  As Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour points out, the sanctions are likely to be scoffed at by those blacklisted, for these men have little interest in visiting the US and don't have significant assets within American jurisdiction. 

Furthermore, will the Iranian public see this move as any help in their effort to improve human rights?  It's all well and good to punish those responsible, but these punishments don't seem to be harsh at all.  It's not like we removed them from their positions.  We are merely providing minimal support to their movement but from thousands of miles away and without any real threat to the Iranian goverment.  Thus, these sanctions could be seen by Iranians as a collective slap-in-the-face. 
 
Of course it's hard to see these sanctions amounting to much, but that remains to be seen.  So while it's true that the sanctions are mostly symbolic, it is a step in the right direction.  But will Washington take that next step (whatever it may be) or will it sit back, content with what it has done?