U.S. imposes sanctions on Russia, Iran for hostage-taking

WASHINGTON —  The Biden administration on Thursday announced a first round of sanctions targeting Russia and Iran for engaging in hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens abroad.

The U.S. sanctions take aim at Russia’s Federal Security Service, often known as the FSB, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization, or IRGC-IO, for “being responsible for or complicit in, directly or indirectly engaged in or responsible for ordering, controlling or otherwise directing the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals abroad.”

Two senior administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity per ground rules established by the White House, said Thursday’s sanctions were underway before Russian authorities detained American citizen Evan Gershkovich last month.

Gershkovich, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in late March on allegations of espionage. The State Department has formally moved to declare Gershkovich’s detention a wrongful one, which opens up additional resources to secure his release.

The Biden administration and leadership at The Wall Street Journal have denied Russian claims that Gershkovich is a spy.

The administration has identified at least two American citizens who are wrongfully detained in Russia and three in Iran, along with one legal permanent U.S. resident.

One administration official said relevant families were briefed on the new sanctions ahead of Thursday’s announcement.

“Our action is a warning to those around the world who would wrongfully detain U.S. nationals, the potential consequences of their actions,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters.

“Sanctions are meant to change behavior and to incentivize better behavior and we hope that these can contribute to doing that now and into the future,” the second official said.

The Department of Treasury announced sanctions on the following individuals in Iran:

• Ruhollah Bazghandi, an IRGC-IO counterintelligence official, has been involved in the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran. The department says his work for the IRGC-IO includes assassination plots against journalists, Israeli citizens and others deemed enemies of Iran.
• Mohammad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC-IO, oversees operations suppressing civil society in Iran, including the regime’s crackdown against protests across the country in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, according to the department. He was previously designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in October.
• Mohamad Mehdi Sayyari, co-deputy chief of the IRGC-IO, has been directly involved in arranging logistics for prisoners in Iran.
• Mohammad Hasan Mohagheghi, co-deputy chief of the IRGC-IO, serves as a liaison between senior IRGC officials and IRGC-IO officials on counterespionage operations in Syria, the department said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, Washington and its allies have imposed rounds of coordinated sanctions vaulting Russia past Iran and North Korea as the world’s most-sanctioned country.

This story is breaking news and will be updated.