TEHRAN -- Iran has imposed sanctions on 61 more Americans, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for backing a terrorist group.
Others blacklisted by Iran’s Foreign Ministry for voicing support for the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) included Republican former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House national security adviser John Bolton.
The sanctions, issued against dozens of Americans in the past on various grounds, let Iranian authorities seize any assets they hold in Iran.
Giuliani, Pompeo and Bolton, all Republicans, have been widely reported to have taken part in MKO events and voiced support for the terrorist group. Both Pompeo and Bolton served under Trump.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senators Ted Cruz and Cory Booker, and former National Security Adviser Lincoln Bloomfield were among the sanctioned individuals.
The individuals provided support to the group by participating in its events and “offering political and propaganda support”, the Iranian foreign ministry said.
Iran imposed sanctions on 51 Americans in January and another 24 in April.
The MKO has martyred more than 17,000 Iranian people across decades, many of them women and children.
The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for numerous assassinations and bombings in the early years following the Islamic Revolution in 1979. It also aided Saddam Hussein in his eight-year invasion of Iran in the 1980s, and took up arms during the war.
The MKO was also listed as a “terrorist” organization by the U.S. and European Union, but was delisted more than 10 years ago with the aim of using it as a tool of subversion against Iran.
Since then, U.S. officials, especially Republicans openly in favor of changing the establishment in Iran, have regularly attended MKO rallies and expressed their support.
The terrorist group has also held regular rallies and is based across several European nations including France, Sweden and Albania, establishing their name as countries which publicly harbor terrorists.
Iran first started imposing sanctions on U.S. officials in 2021. Among others, it blacklisted former President Donald Trump and Pompeo for their role in ordering and carrying out the assassination of legendary anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
It then expanded that list in January, followed by more sanctions in April over the designated individuals’ support for terrorism and violations of human rights of the Iranian people through unilateral sanctions.