US Sanctions 37 People

The US Treasury and State Departments imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on 37 people in 13 countries, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, in actions coordinated with Britain and Canada.

Over the last year, the Treasury has sanctioned more than 150 individuals and entities across a dozen countries, freezing their US assets, for issues relating to human rights abuse. Americans who engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.

Two Iranian intelligence officers who recruited people for US operations are listed, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Their mission included the lethal targeting of current and former US government officials as revenge for the 2020 killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.

The officers, Majid Dastjani Farahani and Mohammad Mahdi Khanpour Ardestani, also recruited people for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States, Treasury added.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Taliban members were sanctioned for their links to the repression of women and girls. These include the minister for the so-called Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice whom the Treasury said has engaged in killings, abductions, whippings, and beatings.

Two mid-level Chinese officials were cited for their connection to "ongoing serious human rights abuse in Xinjiang," the western Chinese region where the US says authorities are committing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.

The officials are Gao Qi, a Xinjiang public security official; and Hu Lianhe, the deputy office director for the Xinjiang Work Coordination Small Group of the Central Committee, which helped design policies for what Washington calls internment camps in the region.

The United States on Friday also restricted imports from three more Chinese companies, including COFCO Sugar Holding, over forced labor practices involving Uyghurs and other minorities in China, the U.S. government said on Friday. 

Some Republican lawmakers complained the China sanctions failed to target senior officials, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief in Xinjiang, Ma Xingrui.

"Secretary Blinken must explain why the top CCP official in Xinjiang – who implements (Chinese President) Xi Jinping's genocide – does not meet the criteria for US sanctions," said Mike Gallagher, chair of the House of Representative's select committee on China, and Senator Marco Rubio in a statement.