US hits Iranians and others with new sanctions

A fresh round of US sanctions imposed on Tuesday designated Iran’s Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and Counter-Terror Special Forces and Gholamreza Soleimani, who commands Iran’s hardline Basij militia. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh responded on Twitter. “Doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage — and is anything but seriousness & goodwill.” He spoke ahead of resumed nuclear talks in Vienna. The action freezes any US assets of those blacklisted and bars Americans from dealing with them.

Also blacklisted were two senior Syrian Air Force officers over chemical weapon attacks on civilians and three senior officers in Syria’s security and intelligence apparatus, as well as Uganda’s chief of military intelligence, Major General Abel Kandiho, for alleged human rights abuses.