Iran Dismisses US Sanctions of Iranians over Alleged Kidnap Plot

Iran dismissed new US sanctions on four Iranians over an alleged plot to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist. (Reuters)
Iran dismissed new US sanctions on four Iranians over an alleged plot to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist. (Reuters)
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Iran Dismisses US Sanctions of Iranians over Alleged Kidnap Plot

Iran dismissed new US sanctions on four Iranians over an alleged plot to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist. (Reuters)
Iran dismissed new US sanctions on four Iranians over an alleged plot to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist. (Reuters)

Iran on Saturday dismissed new US sanctions on four Iranians over an alleged plot to kidnap an Iranian-American journalist, saying the move reflects Washington’s “addiction to sanctions”.

The US Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned the four, saying they were intelligence operatives behind the failed plot.

“Supporters and merchants of sanctions, who see their sanctions tool box empty due to Iran’s maximum resistance, are now resorting to Hollywood scenarios to keep the sanctions alive,” the Foreign Ministry said in a tweet, quoting spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh.

“Washington must understand that it has no choice but to abandon its addiction to sanctions and respect Iran,” he said.

The sanctions come after US prosecutors in July charged the four with plotting to kidnap a New York-based journalist who was critical of Tehran. Reuters previously confirmed she was Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad.

Iran at the time called the alleged plot “ridiculous and baseless.”

Those sanctioned are senior Iran-based intelligence official Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani and Iranian intelligence operatives Mahmoud Khazein, Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori, the Treasury Department said.

The sanctions block all property of the four in the United States or in US control, and prohibit any transactions between them and US citizens. Other non-Americans who conduct certain transactions with the four could also be subjected to US sanctions, the department said.



Medvedev Says Russia Seeks Victory, Not Compromise, in Talks with Ukraine 

Vladimir Medinsky (3rd from L), head of the Russian delegation, delivers a statement to the press after a second round of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)
Vladimir Medinsky (3rd from L), head of the Russian delegation, delivers a statement to the press after a second round of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)
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Medvedev Says Russia Seeks Victory, Not Compromise, in Talks with Ukraine 

Vladimir Medinsky (3rd from L), head of the Russian delegation, delivers a statement to the press after a second round of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)
Vladimir Medinsky (3rd from L), head of the Russian delegation, delivers a statement to the press after a second round of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul, on June 2, 2025. (AFP)

Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that the point of holding peace talks with Ukraine was to ensure a swift and complete Russian victory.

"The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else's delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of the neo-Nazi regime," the hawkish deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council said on Telegram.

"That's what the Russian Memorandum published yesterday is about."

Medvedev was referring to a set of Russian demands presented to Ukraine at talks in Istanbul on Monday.

They included handing over more territory, becoming a neutral country, accepting limits on the size of the Ukrainian army and holding new parliamentary and presidential elections.

At the talks, which lasted only an hour, the two sides agreed on a new prisoner-of-war swap and an exchange of 12,000 dead soldiers, but not on the ceasefire that Ukraine and its allies are pressing Russia to accept.

Medvedev added, in an apparent response to Ukraine's weekend strikes on Russian strategic bomber bases, that Moscow would take revenge. "Retribution is inevitable," he said.

"Our Army is pushing forward and will continue to advance. Everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up, and those who must be eliminated will be."