The United States aims to collect "actionable information" that could allow it to pursue sanctions against Iranian individuals and organizations involved in a crackdown on protesters, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday as anti-regime demonstrations engulfed Iran.
The move is part of efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, at the United Nations and in Trump's own proclamations, to swiftly side with the anti-government protesters.
At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran during the past week of anti-government protests and unrest over economic woes and official corruption. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people took part in counterdemonstrations Wednesday backing the clerically overseen government, which has said "enemies of Iran" are fomenting the protests.
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have deployed forces to three provinces to quell the protests, which began last week out of frustration over economic hardships suffered by youths and working class Iranians.
The senior Trump administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to explain U.S. attitudes towards the protests, acknowledged that the demonstrations were unexpected and that Washington was actively collecting information about the Iranian crackdown.
The idea was to obtain information and "to feed that into our sanctions designation machinery," the official said, noting that the Trump administration already had robust authority to target individuals or organizations for human rights abuses, censorship or preventing the free assembly of protesters.
"Human rights, censorship, free assembly – we have existing authorities that we can bring into action. That requires information," the official said.
"But there's a lot of information out there, so we intend to start assembling that and see what we can do."
Anti-government rallies, held in defiance of the pervasive security services, have called for the fall of the Islamic republic, posing one of the most sustained challenges to the established order of the major oil-exporting state since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah.
The protests have heaped pressure on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who championed the nuclear agreement struck between Iran and world powers in 2015. The agreement aimed to curb Iran's disputed nuclear program in return for lifting most international sanctions.
The U.S. official left open the possibility that protests may initially have been tied to Rouhani's more conservative opponents but said it quickly morphed into a spontaneous, broader uprising that caught Tehran off guard.
Many of the protesters are fuming over what they see as the failure so far of Rouhani's government to deliver on promises of more jobs and investment as a dividend of the nuclear accord.
The U.S. official said the United States believed that Iranians were upset that a disproportional amount of the sanctions relief was directed toward state security services.
Still, it was unclear how the protests might affect Trump's thinking about the 2015 nuclear pact that eased economic pressure on Tehran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.
Trump must decide by mid-January whether to continue waiving U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports under the terms of the international deal.
If he reimposes sanctions on oil, it could increase the economic pain for Iran's leaders. But analysts said it could also send the wrong message about U.S. support for Iran's people in the middle of the boldest challenge to the leadership in a decade.
Asked about those sanctions, the U.S. official said no decision had been reached.
"We have some time," the official said. "We're preparing options for the president. It's just too soon to say."
Meanwhile, Iran charged Wednesday that the U.S. had "crossed every limit" in international relations by expressing support for Iran's anti-government protesters, and said Trump's "absurd tweets" have encouraged disruption.
In a letter to U.N. officials, Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo complained that Washington was intervening "in a grotesque way in Iran's internal affairs." He said Trump and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence were personally stirring up trouble.
"The President and Vice President of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts," the ambassador wrote to the U.N. Security Council president and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The U.S. didn't immediately respond to the letter, which maintains that Washington "has crossed every limit in flouting rules and principles of international law governing the civilized conduct of international relations."
Trump has unleashed a series of tweets in recent days backing the protesters, saying Iran is "failing at every level" and declaring that it is "time for change" in the Islamic republic.
"Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government," he tweeted Wednesday. "You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!"
Trump's U.N. envoy, Ambassador Nikki Haley, called Tuesday for an emergency Security Council meeting on Iran, saying the U.N. needed to speak out in support of the protesters.
As yet, no meeting has been scheduled.
Guterres is following the developments in Iran with concern, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said earlier Wednesday. He said the secretary general urged respect for freedom of expression and stressed that any demonstrations should be peaceful.
