Foreign minister Winston Peters announced the sanctions on Wednesday, saying the 40 people targeted had perpetrated human rights abuses.

They included the ministers of the interior and intelligence, the prosecutor general, and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“It has been horrifying to witness the brutal killing of thousands of protestors in Iran,” Peters said.

New Zealand was joining Australia, Britain, Canada, the EU, and the US in imposing travel bans, he said.

Iran’s embassy in Wellington said the bans were politically motivated and “based on misinformation”.

Western nations that backed “coercive sanctions” by the US lacked the moral standing to lecture others on human rights, it said in a statement.

On Thursday, New Zealand deputy prime minister David Seymour criticised the embassy’s response.

“They just murdered tens of thousands of their own citizens in cold blood to keep power,” Seymour posted on Facebook.

“They deserve everything they’ve got coming and they certainly won’t be escaping to here.”