WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russia’s Federal Security Service and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence organization for arbitrarily detaining Americans.
This is the first implementation of new sanctions created last year by Biden against those arbitrarily holding Americans captive. Still, the sanctions are largely symbolic, given that both organizations beforehand are currently serving harsh sanctions for a range of questionable conduct – from election interference and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to support for terrorist activities.
Senior U.S. government officials declined to disclose which detentions specifically supported the sanctions, arguing that they were a response to a pattern of actions by both countries in unjustifiably detaining Americans both currently and previously.
In a press release, the Treasury Department said Iranian authorities frequently hold and interrogate detainees at Tehran’s Evin Prison and have a “direct role in cracking down on protests and arresting dissidents, including some who hold dual citizenship.”
Senior Biden administration officials noted that Thursday’s moves were hatched long before the arrest last month in Russia of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whose imprisonment was quickly deemed unjust by the U.S. government. American Paul Whelan is also dealing with that designation in Russia.
In addition to sanctioning the two organizations, the government is also imposing additional punishments on four leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who, it alleges, are involved in the hostage-taking efforts.
Brian E. Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the United States is “committed to bringing home unjustly detained U.S. citizens and acting against foreign threats to the security of U.S. citizens abroad.”