US sanctions Iran supreme leader's aides on embassy anniversary

The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on nine aides to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the 40th anniversary of revolutionary zealots seizing the US embassy in Tehran.

The United States said it was also offering a USD 20 million reward for information to find Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent and CIA contractor who went missing in Iran in 2007 in mysterious circumstances.

The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on nine members of Khamenei's inner circle, accusing them of "repression" at home and exporting "terrorism" overseas.

"This action further constricts the supreme leader's ability to execute his agenda of terror and oppression," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The targeted individuals include a number of prominent Iranians, among them judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior foreign policy adviser to Khamenei.

Velayati, who served as Iran's foreign minister from 1981-1997, is wanted in Argentina