Iran said on Friday that new US sanctions imposed against the brother of the high-profile commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm, Qassem Suleimani, were illegal.

The US Treasury added Sohrab Suleimani, along with the Tehran Prisons Organization which he recently oversaw, to its list of individuals and entities facing sanctions on Thursday for alleged “human rights violations”.

“The US government with its failed domestic and international record is not in a position to comment or act on the human rights situation in other countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said.

Sohrab is the younger brother of Major General Qassem Sueimani, who oversees Iranian operations in Iraq and Syria.

The elder brother is already subject to US sanctions.

Sohrab Suleimani was director general of the Tehran Prisons Organization for 15 years, until he became a supervisor in the national prisons bureau in March 2016.

Qassemi said Washington had no right “to assess on its own the human rights situation in other countries and to make decisions for them.”

Source: AFP