US Imposes Sanctions on 4 Iranian Intelligence Officials

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has imposed sanctions on four Iranian citizens linked to their country’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the Treasury Department announced on Friday.

"Today, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating four Iranian intelligence operatives who targeted a US citizen in the United States and Iranian dissidents in other countries as part of a wide-ranging campaign to silence critics of the Iranian government," the Treasury Department said in a press release.

Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani, Mahmoud Khazein, Omid Noori, and Kiya Sadeghi have all been added to the US Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, the Treasury Department said.

The FBI has previously accused the four men of participating in an alleged plot to kidnap an Iranian American, Masih Alinejad. The four were indicted in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on several charges including conspiracy related to kidnapping.

The Treasury Department added that the men used a private investigator to conduct surveillance on the victim and used laundered money from Iran in order to pay for it. They allegedly researched ways to abduct the victim from his home and transport him to Venezuela via speedboats.