Iran imposes sanctions on 61 Americans including Mike Pompeo for supporting MEK

Iran on Saturday, announced that it had sanctioned 61 additional Americans, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for supporting an Iranian dissident group. This comes as an effort to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement that has been at a standstill for months. The sanctions, which were previously imposed on dozens of Americans for a variety of reasons, allow Iranian officials to collect whatever assets they may have in Iran. The country in January, imposed sanctions on 51 Americans and another 24 in the month of April, Reuters reported. 

As per the Iranian state media, Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney for Republican former President Donald Trump, and John Bolton, a former national security adviser in the White House, were among those who were placed on the blacklist by the country’s foreign ministry for endorsing the exiled dissident organisation Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK).

Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton have been publicly reported to have attended MEK gatherings and showed support for the organisation.

Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018, claiming it to be too lenient towards Iran, and restated pushing the US sanctions, which led to Tehran violating the agreement's nuclear restrictions.

Indirect discussions between Iran and US on renewing the 2015 nuclear agreement started in Vienna in November and resumed in Qatar in June. But the talks have been at standstill for several months now. 

However, despite the differences in opinions on politics or policy, the Biden administration promised to stand by all the Americans.