WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli and a number of key officials as part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

The sanctions also target three entities, including two prisons as well as a law enforcement group.

“We have reason to believe Minister Rahmani Fazli gave carte blanche orders authorizing Iranian police forces to use lethal force on peaceful protestors and bystanders,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “His orders led to the killing of many protestors, including at least 23 minors,” Pompeo added.

In a press release, the US Treasury Department announced that it took action against Iran’s interior minister for his role in serious human rights abuses against Iranians, as well as seven senior officials of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and a provincial commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The Iranian regime violently suppresses dissent of the Iranian people, including peaceful protests, through physical and psychological abuse,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States will continue to hold accountable Iranian officials and institutions that oppress and abuse their own people.”

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have spiked since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal struck by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and began reimposing sanctions that had been eased under the accord. — Agencies