Iran is planning to sanction 26 U.S. officials “who have committed human rights violations across the world, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, and supported terrorism and engaged in drug smuggling,” Radio Zamaneh, a Persian broadcaster based in the Netherlands, reported on Monday. “This is just the first list in imposing sanctions on and prosecuting U.S. officials, and more lists will likely come on the parliament’s working agenda,” said Kazzem Jalali, a spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
Among others, officials on the list include: Raymond Odierno, former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq; former captain of the USS Vincennes, Will Rogers III; former FBI deputy director Thomas J. Pickard; former Gitmo commander Geoffrey D. Miller; current Gitmo commander Rear Admiral Jeffrey Harbeson; and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is one of the 26 U.S. officials Iran is threatening to sanction. |
Moreover, Mohammad Karim Abedi, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told Iran’s sate-run Fars News Agency last week that Tehran is planning on launching an English-language news agency, called The Human Rights News Agency, that would report on human rights violations in Europe and the U.S.
The news that Tehran will sanction U.S. officials and create a news agency to report on the West’s supposed human rights violations is arguably the most laughable measure the Iranian Parliament has taken to date. Aside from the fact that the sanctions would have little to no impact, these developments again illustrate the kind of war against the West Tehran is waging in its quest to take its place as the dominant power in the Middle East and perhaps the entire international community.
