Draft:Sanctioned IRGC commanders

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A number of commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been sanctioned by the Americans and Europeans countries.

The Americans have sanctioned the following IRGC commanders:

• Brigadier-General Amir Ali Hajizadeh is the commander of IRGC Aerospace Force. He is a radical hardliner and an outspoken critic of President Hassan Rouhani's administration. He is also the man in charge of Iran's missile development program. He has been serving in this position for 10 years since 2009, meaning that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was also sanctioned on Monday, trusts him for the time being. He has said that the main objective of Iran's missile program is striking Israel.
• Mohammad Pakpour was on the list of Iranian commanders sanctioned by U.S. even before the 2015 nuclear deal. He is a highly decorated general. He is one of the few IRGC generals with a good academic background and a Ph.D. degree in political geography.
• Alireza Tangsiri an IRGC naval commander. Tangsiri has openly spoken about suicide missions against U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. He has said he knows many individuals who can hit themselves, wrapped in explosives, on a U.S. ship.
• Abbas Gholamshahi has been the commander of IRGC Navy's first region in Bandar Abbas and in charge of defending the Strait of Hormuz since 2016.
• Ramzan Zirahi is the commander of IRGC Navy's second region in the vicinity of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and has held this post since 2017.
• Yadollah Badin is the commander of IRGC Navy's 3rd region in Mahshahr.
• Mansour Ravankar has been the commander of IRGC Navy's 4th region in Asalouyeh since 2016.
• Ali Ozmaei, is the commander of IRGC Navy's 5th region in the Persian Gulf.
• Mohammad Reza Falahzadeh, deputy commander of the IRGC’s expeditionary Quds force. The Quds force, the IRGC branch responsible for foreign operations, supports militant groups across the region, including the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah.

The European Union (EU) and the Americans have sanctioned the following IRGC commanders for their involvement in transferring drone technologies to Russia:

• Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani, defense minister;
• Gholam Ali Rashid, commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters;
• Ismail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force;

The British have sanctioned the following commanders for having opened fire on unarmed protestors resulting in numerous deaths, including of children, and for having arbitrarily detained and tortured protestors:

• Mohammad Nazar Azimi is the Commander of Najaf Ashraf West Headquarters, and according to the British government responsible for the violent repression of protests in the Kurdish-majority Kermanshah Province, with IRGC forces using machine guns against unarmed protestors resulting in multiple deaths.
• Habib Shahsavari, who leads the Shohada ground troops of the West Azarbaijan province, and is responsible for repression of protestors in Mahabad and Piranshahr, where the regime’s crackdown resulted in multiple deaths.
• Mohsen Karimi – the IRGC commander of Markazi province. Karimi was announced as responsible for the violent repression of protests, including 19-year-old protestor Mehrshad Shahidi who was reportedly beaten to death in an IRGC detention center.
• Ahmad Kadem (Khadem) – the commander of the Operational Base Karbala, which commands IRGC troops in the provinces of Khuzestan, Lorestan and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad. Khadem was responsible for the repression of protests in the town of Izeh, in Khuzestan Province, during which 10-year old Kian Pirfalak was shot and killed.