US, UK impose sanctions on Iranian officials over plot to kill dissidents, journalists

The United States and Britain announce sanctions on a network which they say targeted Iranian dissidents and activists for assassination.

The group, said to run “at the behest of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS),” is alleged to have conducted assassinations and kidnappings “across multiple jurisdictions,” says the US Treasury Department in a statement.

It aims to silence the Iranian regime’s perceived critics, says the US Treasury, adding that the network has also plotted operations in America.

Among the five individuals named is Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, whom the Treasury identified as a narcotics trafficker. Others include members of his family, and an MOIS officer overseeing some of his operations, says the Treasury.

The United Kingdom says in a separate notice that it will “sanction seven individuals and one organization, including senior Iranian officials and members of organized criminal gangs who collaborate with the regime.”

They include members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Unit 840, over reported “plots to assassinate two television presenters from news channel Iran International on UK soil,” says the British announcement.