Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) welcomes the Australian Government’s recent announcement of targeted sanctions against seven Iranian officials and entities involved in domestic human rights abuses under Australia’s Autonomous Sanctions (Designated Persons and Entities and Declared Persons – Iran) Amendment (No. 1) Instrument 2023.

These include Iran’s Cyber Police, state media outlet Press TV and technology company Arvan Cloud. Two “interrogator-journalists” working for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Ali Rezvani and Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour, were also listed, as were Iranian police spokesperson Saeed Montazer Al-Mahdi and Cyber Police Chief Vahid Mohammad Naser Majid.

While this modest step against domestic human rights abuses in Iran is very welcome, AIJAC urges the Government to coordinate more with our allies and partners in terms of both the timing of sanctions announcements as well as the targets. This should include a heavier focus on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s material support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, and also support for terrorism, hostage-taking, piracy and the proliferation of missiles and other weapons to its regional proxies.