The United States imposed sanctions on Russia and Iran in response to hostage-taking. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and the intelligence arm of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), along with four IRGC leaders, were sanctioned, though they are already under sanctions.

Senior U.S. officials claim that this is the first of more sanctions coming meant to punish and deter countries from snatching American citizens abroad. Allegedly these sanctions were already in the works when Wall Street Journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested while eating dinner at a Russian steakhouse.

FSB and IRGC are already under sanctions so it is unclear how effective the new ones will be in punishment for wrongfully detaining American citizens. They are the first sanctions since Biden signed an executive order last year which provides new tools to help bring hostages home. The Biden administration is really concerned about hostage-taking, according to a senior official.

We do think it’s significant that the first round of sanctions are being announced specifically for this type of behavior, because we’re really concerned about this type of behavior,” a senior official said.

The Biden administration should be concerned about hostage-taking because they are enabling it. The administration has settled on prisoner swaps in order to secure the release of American citizens being held overseas. While we can understand the desperation that families and friends of the hostages must be feeling, it is a very slippery slope that Team Biden finds itself on. Once prisoner swaps begin, there is no going back. The last such swap was for the release of a female professional basketball player, Brittney Griner. In exchange for her freedom, one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers was released back to Russia. Known as ‘The Merchant of Death’, Viktor Bout is a convicted arms dealer who was apprehended in an elaborate operation in 2008. Is this a good path to be heading down? Prisoner swaps embolden nefarious foreign governments to take Americans hostage. It is as though they are being rewarded for their behavior.

Five American citizens were named as the reasons for these new sanctions. Besides Evan Gerschkovich, Paul Whelan is being unlawfully detained in Russia. Both are being held on espionage charges. At least three American citizens are being held in Iran – Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. Why wasn’t Marc Fogel, a school teacher being held in Russia on drug charges (marijuana) named?

The announcement was made after Russia’s Foreign Ministry rejected a request from U.S. embassy officials in Moscow to visit Evan Gershkovich next month. The rejection was retaliation for the U.S. denying visas to Russian journalists who wanted to travel to New York to cover Sergey Lavrov as he chairs the U.N. Security Council this month.

Biden described the sanctions as the administration’s latest tool to apply pressure for the release of American citizens.

“Today—and every day—our message to Russia, Iran, and the world is holding hostage or wrongfully detaining Americans is unacceptable. Release them immediately,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.

Here’s the thing – Joe Biden and Tony Blinken, the secretary of state, are feckless. America’s reputation around the world is compromised under this administration. Set aside the corruption of the Biden, Inc. deals with foreign countries who are not necessarily friendly to the United States, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan during Biden’s first year in office was a national embarrassment, besides being a tragedy that killed thirteen American service members. His bumbling and fumbling manner and his tendency to lead from behind make the United States a laughingstock. Bad actors do not fear Joe Biden.

The list of individuals in Iran who were sanctioned is as follows:

Ruhollah Bazghandi, an IRGC-IO counterintelligence official, has been involved in the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran. The department says his work for the IRGC-IO includes assassination plots against journalists, Israeli citizens and others deemed enemies of Iran.

Mohammad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC-IO, oversees operations suppressing civil society in Iran, including the regime’s crackdown against protests across the country in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini, according to the department. He was previously designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in October.

Mohamad Mehdi Sayyari, co-deputy chief of the IRGC-IO, has been directly involved in arranging logistics for prisoners in Iran.

Mohammad Hasan Mohagheghi, co-deputy chief of the IRGC-IO, serves as a liaison between senior IRGC officials and IRGC-IO officials on counterespionage operations in Syria, the department said.

The specific details of the sanctions have not been reported.

It’s an election year for Biden so we can look for him to show a newfound interest in Americans being detained overseas. One hostage’s family asks that Biden meet with the families of those being held in Iran. So far he has refused to do so, she said.

On Thursday, Neda Sharghi, the sister of Emad Shargi, praised the White House for taking the action, but urged President Joe Biden to bring home those who are wrongfully detained.

“Deterrent actions like this one are an important tool in our country’s efforts to stop countries from engaging in detentions with impunity,” she said. “But they are deterrents of future behavior and no deterrent is going to resolve the ongoing detention of Americans that is going on right now.”

She also urged Biden to meet with the families of the three men held in Iran – a request that the families have made for months.

“Regardless of how positive this action is, it does not absolve the president for refusing to meet with the families of the three Americans being held in Iran – collectively for a total of 18 years. We continue to plead with the White House to let us meet with our president,” Neda Sharghi said.

Why won’t Biden take a meeting with those families? He has met with Paul Whelan’s family and he has spoken to Evan Gerschkovich on the phone. Funny how the reporter got speedy attention from the White House, eh? It’s good for Biden to finally at least look like he’s working on hostage releases but it’s too bad that it took Russia grabbing an American journalist to get him to do that. Gerschkovich is the first American journalist grabbed in Russia since the end of the Cold War. As I said, Biden is up for reelection. His cohorts in the press are important to him.