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US announces new sanctions on Iran defense ministry, atomic energy agency

(L-R) US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the US Representative to the UN Kelly Craft deliver remarks to the media on Iran Snapback Sanctions. (Screengrab)
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Updated 22 September 2020
Agencies
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US announces new sanctions on Iran defense ministry, atomic energy agency

  • US adds five Iranian scientists to sanctions list
  • Washington stands ready to respond to future Iranian aggression
Updated 22 September 2020
Agencies

WASHINGTON: The United States slapped additional sanctions on Iran on Monday after the Trump administration’s unilateral weekend declaration that all United Nations penalties that were eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored.
The announcement comes in defiance of the world community, which has rejected U..S. legal standing to impose the international sanctions and sets the stage for an ugly showdown at the annual UN General Assembly this week.

“The United States has now restored UN sanctions on Iran,” President Donald Trump said in a statement issued shortly after he signed an executive order spelling out how the US will enforce the “snapback” of the sanctions. “My actions today send a clear message to the Iranian regime and those in the international community who refuse to stand up to Iran.”

Trump’s administration named 27 people or entities that it said would be subject to UN sanctions, but the world body itself says that the decision is not up to Washington.
Speaking to reporters with fellow Cabinet secretaries at the State Department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then announced the administration was hitting more than two dozen Iranian individuals and institutions with penalties. Nearly all of them, however, including the Iranian defense ministry and its atomic energy agency, were already subject to US sanctions that the administration had re-imposed after Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018.

Trump’s executive order mainly affects Iranian and foreign entities involved in conventional weapons and ballistic missile activity. A UN arms embargo on Iran is to expire in October under the terms of the nuclear deal, but Pompeo and others insist the snapback has rescinded its termination.
The Trump administration argues that it is enforcing the UN arms embargo that Iran has violated, including through an attack on Saudi oil facilities.
Accompanied by Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft and national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Pompeo said the US was acting because the rest of the world is refusing to confront the Iranian threat.

“We have made it very clear that every member state in the United Nations has a responsibility to enforce the sanctions,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters when asked about European opposition.
“That certainly includes the United Kingdom, France and Germany. We will have every expectation that those nations enforce these sanctions,” he said.
“No matter where you are in the world, you will risk sanctions,” he said, warning foreign companies and officials not to do business with targeted Iranian entities.

Craft said, “As we have in the past, we will stand alone to protect peace and security.”
The administration declared on Saturday that all UN sanctions against Iran had been restored because Tehran is violating parts of the nuclear deal in which it agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
But few UN member states believe the US has the legal standing to restore the sanctions because Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. The US argues it retains the right to do so as an original participant in the deal and a member of the council.
The remaining world powers in the deal — France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia — have been struggling to offset the sanctions that the US re-imposed on Iran after the Trump administration left the pact, which the president said was one-sided in favor of Tehran.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s nuclear agency, said Monday that there is still a broad agreement among the international community that the nuclear pact should be preserved.
At a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Salehi said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, has been “caught in a quasi-stalemate situation” since Trump pulled out in 2015.


While insisting it is not pursuing a nuclear weapon, Iran has been steadily breaking restrictions outlined in the deal on the amount of uranium it can enrich, the purity it can enrich it to, and other limitations. At the same time, Iran has far less enriched uranium and lower-purity uranium than it had before signing the deal, and it has continued to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities.

The United States has separately been seeking to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has increasingly sought cooperation with Iran on the oil sector.
The State Department said it was again imposing sanctions on Maduro under the executive order from Trump that is based on the UN resolution, pointing to defense transactions between Iran and the leftist Venezuelan leader.

“For nearly two years, corrupt officials in Tehran have worked with the illegitimate regime in Venezuela to flout the UN arms embargo,” Pompeo said.
“Our actions today are a warning that should be heard worldwide.”

Furthermore, Elliott Abrams, Washington’s envoy on Iran, said on Monday that the US is concerned about Iran’s cooperation with North Korea and will do whatever it can to prevent it, .
Abrams was responding to a reporter’s question on whether the United States had seen evidence that Tehran and Pyongyang had resumed cooperation on long-range missile development.
He spoke shortly after the Trump administration slapped the new sanctions on Iran.
(With Reuters, AFP and AP)

Topics: Mike Pompeo Mark Esper Iran US sanctions iran sanctions iran nucelar deal Kelly Craft Wilbur Ross US Treasury US Commerce Department US Department of Defense Robert O'Brien

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How a Syrian refugee built a global mental health lifeline for displaced communities

Updated 9 sec ago
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How a Syrian refugee built a global mental health lifeline for displaced communities

  • Jin Dawod created Peace Therapist to deliver anonymous, culturally sensitive therapy to refugees in four languages worldwide
  • Self-funded platform has provided 70,000 sessions across Turkiye, Syria and Europe, partnering with UN agencies after disasters
Updated 9 sec ago
Dalal Awienat

DUBAI: When Jin Dawod fled the Syrian civil war as a teenager and sought refuge in Turkiye, she carried with her the invisible weight of displacement — fear, uncertainty and isolation.

Years later that experience would shape Peace Therapist, a digital psychological support platform she founded in 2018 to provide accessible mental health care in four languages to refugees.

Dawod told Arab News that while adjusting to life in Turkiye, she realized there was little support available in Arabic for refugees struggling with their mental well-being.

During her second year studying computer engineering, she decided to build a solution: an online therapy platform connecting refugees with psychologists in their mother tongue. 

Jin Dawod, a refugee from Syria, created Peace Therapist to deliver online therapy to displaced people in four languages. (Supplied)

“After the civil war in Syria and my personal experience with it, I found out most of the refugees don’t have space to feel, to express, to talk, or even to ask questions,” she told Arab News.

Since its launch, Dawod said the social enterprise has delivered more than 70,000 sessions across Turkiye, Syria and Europe, helping thousands begin the process of healing.

“I wanted to make a solution that is accessible, anonymous, and in the mother language for the people who are reaching out for help,” she said.

The need is stark. According to the World Health Organization, refugees and migrants exposed to adversity are at greater risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychoses, sometimes leading to suicide. 

Kurdish children and their families fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (AFP)

In some countries, psychoses are more prevalent among migrants, linked to cumulative social disadvantage throughout their journey.

The WHO reports that 22 percent of people who have experienced war or conflict in the previous decade will suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. 

Yet refugees and migrants often face barriers that limit both access to and acceptance of mental health services, including discrimination, language gaps and concerns over confidentiality.

Peace Therapist operates through three models. The first provides direct support to individuals, no matter where they are. 

Kurds fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (AFP)

“Anyone anywhere can reach out to these therapists from anywhere in the world, if they are speaking the four languages that we are supporting we can give them psychological support and mental health services needed,” Dawod said.

The second model focuses on partnerships with organizations, including UN agencies and nonprofits. After the devastating Syria-Turkiye earthquake in 2023, Dawod shared a helpline on social media for those affected.

Within hours, she said, 200 requests for support poured in from refugees and Turkish nationals traumatized by the 7.8 magnitude quake and its aftershocks.

“We worked with ILO and we supported six survivors in Syria and Turkiye and we later matched them with job opportunities. Also, we worked with UNHCR and with the SPARK organization,” she said. 

Jin Dawod, a refugee from Syria, created Peace Therapist to deliver online therapy to displaced people in four languages. (Supplied)

SPARK, an independent non-governmental organization, partners with UN agencies to help young people, women and refugees in fragile states access education, employment and entrepreneurship.

The third model — and, Dawod insists, the most important — is the social plan, which offers free sessions to refugees and disadvantaged groups.

“Our social plan is the heart of Peace Therapist,” Dawod said. “That is why Peace Therapist was born in the first place. And we don’t want to forget why it was born in the first place — to support refugees.”

Sustaining that free support is also the greatest challenge; the platform is self-funded. 

Kurds fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (AFP)

“We don’t have a specific government or organization that is sponsoring Peace Therapist. We are independent and we are self-managing,” Dawod said, calling on the international community to collaborate and expand access to mental health services.

Her work has earned global recognition, including the 2024 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award for Europe and the Youth Leadership and Innovation Award by the Global Forum on Migration and Development, bringing her to platforms such as the UN and the European Parliament.

“We are so happy to be recognized globally. We have many global awards like the Nansen Refugee Award and the UN Action Award ... we are honored to have these amazing awards,” she said.

But the accolades are secondary.

“We want to always be there in the field and always be touching the people who are reaching out for us. Because the biggest award for us is the feedback that we are having from the people who are reaching out,” she said. 

Jin Dawod, a refugee from Syria, created Peace Therapist to deliver online therapy to displaced people in four languages. (Supplied)

The UN reports that by the end of April 2025, around 122 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide — the highest level on record. UNHCR said that as of 2025, 1.2 million mental health consultations and psychosocial support services had been provided globally.

The WHO stresses that effective mental health care for displaced populations requires culturally sensitive, multidisciplinary approaches that integrate social support, legal assistance and community engagement.

Peace Therapist’s team now includes more than 150 psychologists from diverse cultural backgrounds.

“That is so important, to be able to support the people with the cultural, culturally sensitive services,” said Dawod. “We have psychologists from Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, of course, Turkiye and many other Arab countries, and also international experts.”

The platform also uses artificial intelligence to match users with therapists based on their needs and the psychologist’s expertise. 

Kurds fleeing a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas arrive in the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli on January 19, 2026. (AFP)

“When we are providing psychological support, it’s really important to match with the right psychologist because it could be also harmful more than it can be useful when you are matched to the wrong person,” Dawod said.

For many refugees, stigma, racism and discrimination further delay seeking help, the WHO notes, worsening mental health outcomes.

“There is already a lot of stigma on mental health, and we don’t want people to lose the encouragement of having and asking for help,” Dawod added.

As displacement reaches record levels, digital platforms like Peace Therapist are increasingly viewed by humanitarian organizations as scalable solutions in conflict and post-conflict settings. 

WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 emphasizes promoting mental wellbeing and addressing disparities in access to care, particularly for refugees and migrants.

For Dawod, however, the mission remains deeply personal.

“Peace Therapist was born because of war, so our mission is always to build peace — inner peace and peace in the world. It all starts from inside of us.”

 

Topics: Syrian refugee Editor’s Choice Jin Dawod mental health

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