Iran has hit out at Australia after new sanctions were imposed over human rights violations and the supply of drones to Russia.
Its foreign ministry has accused Australia of promoting violence and hatred after financial and travel sanctions were placed on senior members of Iran's regime, including the morality police and the paramilitary group the Basij Resistance Forces, which have been responsible for crackdowns on anti-government protesters.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said "the decision by Australia is an example of interference in Iran's internal affairs and incitement and promotion of violence and hate-mongering".
"The government in Canberra has been for many years violating the basic rights of Australia's native inhabitants, prisoners and asylum seekers.
"Australia has also given sanctuary to anti-Iran terrorist and separatist groups."
Mr Kanaani said Australia's record on human rights was "dark" and "deserves international attention and reaction".
"[Australia] has recently violated its rights obligations by preventing the International Committee for the Prevention of Torture from visiting the refugee detention centres there in order to conceal its inhumane treatment of asylum seekers," the statement said.
Iran's activist HRANA news agency said 488 protesters — including 68 children — had been killed since the protests started in September.
It said 18,259 demonstrators have been arrested, while 62 members of the security forces have been killed.
Iran's Interior Ministry state security council said the death toll was 200, according to the judiciary's news agency Mizan.
'Widespread disregard' for human rights
This comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Saturday announced sanctions were being imposed for "egregious human rights violations and abuses".
"The Iranian regime's flagrant and widespread disregard for the human rights of its own people has appalled Australians, and the perpetrators must be held accountable," Senator Wong wrote in an opinion piece published by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Targeted financial sanctions were also imposed on three Iranian individuals and one business involved in the supply of drones to Russia for use against Ukraine.
The sanctions include Australian travel bans and the freezing of assets.
"The listings demonstrate the Australian government's commitment to take clear action to assert our values, and to hold perpetrators of serious human rights violations and abuses to account," Senator Wong and Tim Watts, the assistant foreign minister, said in a joint statement.
Among those targeted were six people who participated in the bloody crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the care of Iran's morality police.
At the time of her death, police said Ms Amini had suffered a heart attack after being taken to a station to be "convinced and educated", state television said, denying allegations she was beaten.
Her relatives said she did not suffer from any heart condition.
Under Iran's Islamic law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.
Violators face public rebuke, fines or arrest.
Clerical rulers struggle to enforce the law, with many women of all ages and backgrounds wearing tight-fitting, thigh-length coats and brightly coloured scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair.
