US imposes visa restrictions on Iran officials, telecoms leaders as nuclear talks continue
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A photo released by the US Navy on Feb 6 shows an aircraft carrier with a destroyer and a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea. The US had dispatched a second aircraft carrier.
PHOTO: AFP
The US announced visa restrictions on Iranian officials and executives for repressing recent anti-regime protests
The US State Department said on Feb 18 it is targeting 18 Iranian officials and telecommunications industry leaders and their immediate family members for the crackdown and a communications blackout, blaming them for “inhibiting the right of Iranians to free expression and peaceful assembly”.
“Even today, the regime continues to restrict the ability of Iranians to exercise their basic freedoms,” US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
“We will continue to use all tools available to expose and promote accountability for the abuses by Iranian regime officials and other individuals.”
The visa restrictions come as US President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with air strikes over the crackdown and demanded that the country’s leadership negotiate over its nuclear programme – and potentially other issues, including its ballistic missiles.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Feb 18 that both sides made a “little bit of progress” in the talks, but that the Trump administration was not imposing any hard deadline for negotiations to produce an agreement.
While both the US and Iran sounded cautiously upbeat on Feb 17
The US has amassed military assets in the Middle East
A US official, who asked not to be named, cautioned on Feb 17 that there were still many details to sort through, saying that Iran would return with detailed proposals to address the remaining gaps within two weeks.
US Vice-President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Feb 17 that “it was very clear that the President has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through, so we’re going to keep on working it”. BLOOMBERG
