The U.S. sanctioned four persons and entities based in Iran and the UAE citing “their roles in facilitating the Iranian regime’s censorship of the Internet in Iran”. The State Department emphasised that the designations were “just one component in our multi-pronged strategy to support and preserve the free flow of information to the Iranian people in the face of the Iranian regime’s unprecedented campaign of Internet disruptions and censorship, part of a broader crackdown on dissent”.