U.S. Sanctions Iranian Official Who Shut Off Internet Access

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration said it would sanction an Iranian official responsible for shutting off access to the internet in the country during protests this month.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Iran’s minister of information and communications technology, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, to its sanctions list on Friday. Jahromi’s ministry blocked internet access in Iran “for several days in November based upon what Iranian authorities describe as national security concerns in the wake of anti-regime protests throughout the country,” Treasury said in a statement.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated since President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and ratcheted up sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Trump noted the internet shutdown in a tweet on Thursday.

At least 106 Iranians were killed last week after the regime cracked down on anti-government protesters, according to Amnesty International. Iranian officials put the death toll at 12. The government staged rallies in several cities on Friday in a show of support for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Hundreds of people linked to the protests were arrested. The demonstrations began after the Iranian government -- under economic stress in part because of the U.S. sanctions -- hiked the price of gasoline.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.