“The United States remains concerned with the Iranian Government’s continued persecution of Baha’is and other religious minority communities in Iran,” said Mark C. Toner, Acting Deputy Spokesman for the U.S. Department of State. “We’re deeply troubled about reports coming out of Iran that a 20-year sentence of the seven Baha’i leaders was reinstated on appeal by the prosecutor general, a man the United States recently imposed economic sanctions and a travel ban on for committing serious human rights violations. We condemn this unprecedented step as a violation of Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”