US considering new sanctions on Iran over crackdown on protestors

A senior administrative official said US was looking for actionable information

T he White House intends to introduce sanctions against elements of the Iranian regime or its supporters involved in a crackdown against countrywide protests, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

"We are looking across the board," the official said, pointing to authorities that allow President Donald Trump to target organisations or individuals involved in human rights violations, censorship or preventing free assembly.

"That requires information, but there is a lot of information out there, so we intend to start assembling that and see what we can do."

The official, who ask for anonymity, said the United States would "use all the information sources at our disposal to be able to get actionable information about who is doing the crackdown, who is violating human rights, who is using violence against protesters and to feed that in to our sanctions designation machinery.