The United States announced new sanctions on Russian and Iranian intelligence agencies, and several Iranian individuals, for their role in hostage-taking and the “wrongful detention” of American citizens.
Authorized by an executive order signed by President Biden last summer, U.S. officials said the sanctions — on Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, and on the intelligence arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — would not “set back” efforts to free Americans being held in those countries, including Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reported arrested in Russia last month on what Washington says are “bogus” espionage charges. Although it is unusual to impose sanctions government organizations, both Russian and Iranian agencies are already under sanctions for various activities. The new measures, U.S. officials said are meant to “change behavior and to incentivize better behavior.”
Niha Masih
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