US imposes sanctions on Russia, Iran over illegal arrests of Americans

This is reported by the Office of Foreign Assets Control [OFAC] of the US Treasury Department, according to Ukrinform.

“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control [OFAC] sanctioned four senior officials of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization [IRGC-IO]” - the statement reads.

At the same time, it is specified that the US State Department also imposed restrictions on this organization for its role in the capture and illegal detention of US citizens in Iran.

However, OFAC has imposed additional sanctions on the Russian Federal Security Service at the request of the State Department, also because of its involvement in the illegal detention of US citizens abroad.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Russia illegally detained U.S. citizens, The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Hershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, on espionage charges. The Americans strongly deny the charges.