The U.S. State Department has announced sanctions on an unknown number of current and former Thai officials for their role in deporting at least 40 Uyghur men to China despite worries that they could be jailed or even face death there.

The State Department said it was “combating China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China.”

Russia is trying to undermine peace talks and should be slammed with tough new sanctions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday ahead of negotiations between the U.S. and Moscow. Ukraine agreed to a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day pause in fighting earlier this week after high-level talks with a U.

The fact that Donald Trump allowed the sanctions loophole to expire can be used politically. However, it will not be a blow that could particularly harm Russia, assesses Szymon Kardaś from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Representatives of China, Russia and Iran have called for an end to U.S. sanctions on Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program and a restart to multinational talks on the issue.

China and Russia joined Iran in denouncing US sanctions and backed efforts to restore a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran that President Donald Trump abandoned in his first term and now wants to replace.

Russia, China, and Iran have joined forces to call on the United States to lift the heavy sanctions placed on Iran. The three nations stated that these penalties are “unlawful” and should be removed immediately.

Their communiqué, released after a G7 meeting in Canada, noted that the foreign ministers discussed imposing further penalties if the Kremlin did not fully implement a ceasefire. Asked about US sanctions,

The United States drew closer to its G7 allies on Friday, at least momentarily, to back Ukraine's territorial integrity and warn Russia to follow Kyiv in accepting a ceasefire or face possible further sanctions.