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The United States blacklisted five Iranian officials on Thursday, accusing them of preventing free and fair elections a day before a parliamentary vote that it branded a "sham."Iran's election campaign ended on Thursday, the first poll since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018 and reimposed punishing sanctions.The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday acted against five Iranian officials of the Guardian Council and its Elections Supervision Committee."Treasury's action targets Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, and Mohammad Yazdi, a member of Iran's Guardian Council who was formerly Iran's first Judiciary Chief, and three additional members of its Elections Supervisory Committee," OFAC said in a statement.
"The Supreme Leader uses his appointees to deprive the Iranian people of free and fair elections by blocking candidates that do not mirror his radical views," it said.
"Many of them were Iranians who questioned the Supreme Leader's policies," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, referring to those rejected from running. "This process is a sham. It is not free or fair," he said.
Parliamentary election campaign posters are seen at the end of the parliamentary election day in Tehran, Iran, February 20, 2020. /Reuters
The Guardian Council, which must approve candidates, has rejected around 6,850 moderate or conservative hopefuls in favor of hardliners from among the 14,000 applicants seeking to contest the February 21 vote. About a third of lawmakers have also been barred from standing again.
Washington's action on Thursday targeted Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the Guardian Council, Mohammad Yazdi, a member of Iran's Guardian Council who was formerly Iran's first judiciary chief, and three members of the Elections Supervisory Committee.
The sanctions freeze any U.S.-held assets of the officials and generally bar Americans from doing business with them.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks as he meets with people in Tehran, Iran, February 18, 2020. /Reuters
"We anticipate 50 percent of people will participate in the election," Abbasali Kadkhodai, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, told a televised news conference on Wednesday.
Turnout was 62 percent in the 2016 parliamentary vote and 66 percent of people voted in 2012. About 58 million Iranians are eligible to vote.
Khamenei backed the Guardian Council, saying the next parliament was no place for those scared of speaking out against foreign enemies.
In Tehran, which accounts for 30 seats in the assembly, hardline candidates are headed by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former mayor of the capital city who once commanded the elite Revolutionary Guards.
(CGTN)
