Iran blacklists Trump, U.S. officials as his term nears end

Dubai (Reuters) – Iran blacklisted U.S. President Donald Trump and several current and former senior U.S. officials on Tuesday over what it called “terrorist and anti-human rights” acts, a move widely regarded as symbolic.

Tehran’s move, announced on the last full day of the Trump administration, allows the seizure of any assets in Iran of sanctioned individuals. There have been no reports of any such assets, so the move is unlikely to have financial impact on the outgoing U.S. president or officials.

The Trump administration rained sanctions down on Iranian officials, politicians and companies after withdrawing the United States in 2018 from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Among officials sanctioned by Iran were Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; ex-Defense Secretary Mark Esper; Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

Other blacklisted individuals included Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel; former National Security Adviser John Bolton; former U.S. Iran envoy Brian Hook; Elliott Abrams, Washington’s special representative on Iran and Venezuela; and Treasury Department sanctions official Andrea Gacki, it said.

The officials were blacklisted “for their role in terrorist and anti-human rights activities against Iran and its citizens”, Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said Washington will rejoin the nuclear deal if Iran resumes strict compliance.