Washington:The Biden administration on Thursday sanctioned Russian and Iranian intelligence services and individuals for their roles in wrongfully detaining Americans, senior administration officials said.

The new measures target Russia’s Federal Security Service and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as four individuals associated with the Iranian group.

这标志着开始新的制裁isations that President Joe Biden established last year for use against anyone keeping Americans against their will. Although both groups are already subject to broad sanctions for a range of malevolent behavior, including support for terrorism, election meddling, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the restrictions are primarily symbolic.

Biden said the safe return of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad has been a priority since the first day of his presidency.

“Today, and every day, our message to Russia, Iran, and the world is holding hostage or wrongfully detaining Americans is unacceptable. Release them immediately,” he said in a written statement.

Senior administration officials declined to specify which detentions specifically underpinned the sanctions, saying they were a response to a pattern of actions by the two countries in unjustly holding Americans both currently and in the past. A US Treasury news release stated that Iranian authorities frequently hold and interrogate detainees in Evin Prison in Tehran and have a “direct role in the repression of protests and arrest of dissidents, including dual nationals.”

Senior administration officials noted that Thursday’s actions were in the works well before the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia, whose imprisonment was swiftly deemed unjust by the U.S. government. He joins American Paul Whelan with that designation in Russia.

In addition to targeting the two organizations, the administration is also adding additional sanctions on four IRGC leaders it alleges are involved in hostage taking efforts.

Brian E. Nelson, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the US is “committed to bringing home wrongfully detained US nationals and acting against foreign threats to the safety of US nationals abroad.”

The senior administration officials said that relief from the sanctions could be used as an inducement in negotiations to try to secure the release of the Americans held overseas.

Biden last year issued an executive order relying on a section of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act — named after a retired FBI agent who vanished in Iran 15 years ago and is now presumed dead — that authorizes the president to impose sanctions, including visa revocations, on people believed to be involved in the wrongful detention of Americans.

The announcement comes before the annual dinner of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation next week, an event expected to include as guests multiple former hostages and detainees as well as advocates for that population. In addition, there is a candlelight vigil planned for next week and a news conference scheduled outside the White House to raise the plight of those detained.

With inputs from agencies

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