WASHINGTON. The Biden administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on the FSB, Russia’s intelligence service, for its role in detaining Americans such as Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter accused of espionage.

The administration also announced sanctions against Iran’s intelligence services and four senior Iranian officials who say the administration was involved in the taking of Americans and other national hostages.

These actions are the first attempt by the United States government to formally punish foreign governments for capturing Americans in an effort to cut off access to the international financial system.

But administration officials acknowledged that the sanctions were designed primarily as a way to express disapproval of Russia and Iran, as the intelligence services of both countries had already been hit with heavy financial sanctions for activities in other areas.

However, officials who asked not to be named as they discussed the sanctions prior to their official announcement said that the imposition of punishments on the two regimes was an important part of the often difficult effort to bring Americans home.

They hinted that the sanctions could be a bargaining chip in future negotiations to release Mr. Hershkowitz or other American detainees. Asked if the lifting of sanctions could be part of the negotiations, one official pointed to the wording in official announcement Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Ministry of Finance.

“The strength and integrity of the OFAC sanctions stem not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add individuals” to the sanctions list, the Treasury Department said in a statement, “but also from its willingness to remove individuals.”

“The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish,” the statement said, “but to achieve positive behavioral change.”

However, it is not clear what significance the intelligence services of Russia and Iran will attach to the imposition of sanctions or the prospect of their lifting.

If the FSB or the IRGC-IO, the intelligence arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, had financial assets located abroad at any point, those assets were likely frozen or cut off long ago due to sanctions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the Aspiration Iran to nuclear weapons.

In addition to the two agencies, four Iranian officials were sanctioned. Among them are the commander of the IRGC-IO, two deputies of the agency and a counterintelligence officer of the agency. Officials said all four were involved in the wrongful detention of Americans and other activities, including assassination plots.

Officials also said they expect other hostage-taking sanctions to be introduced in the coming months.

Mr. Gershkovich was the last American detained by Russia when he was detained March 30 and charged with espionage. The Biden administration has said that Mr. Gershkovich is not a spy and admitted he was mistakenly detained by Russia.

Speaking to Mr. Hershkowitz’s family days after his detention, President Biden said his administration was “making it completely clear that what’s going on is absolutely illegal.”

Officials said the decision to start preparing sanctions against Russia and Iran was made long before Mr. Gershkovich was detained by Russia, but added that his case adds to a “model of action” that justifies the government’s punishment.

In addition to Mr. Gershkovich, Russia continues to hold other Americans, including Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who has been in Russian custody since 2018 on charges of espionage that the US government says are trumped up. Russia also holds Mark Vogel, an American sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony for possession of a small amount of medical marijuana.

Britney Greener, an American basketball star held on similar drug possession charges, was released late last year after nearly 10 months in prison in exchange for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer known as the “dealer of death.”

Last October, Iran briefly released Siamak Namazi, a 51-year-old dual-citizen Iranian-American businessman who had been imprisoned since 2015, on temporary leave and lifted a travel ban on his father, Baker Namazi, 85, a former government official. United Nations.

But Mr. Namazi returned to an Iranian prison and went on a week-long hunger strike earlier this year to protest his detention. At the time, Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House press secretary, said that “Iran’s use of wrongful detentions as political leverage is outrageous.”

Iran also holds Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. Mr. Tahbaz, 67, a businessman and conservationist, has been in detention since 2018. Mr Shargi, also a businessman, was arrested in January. Both are detained by the Iranian government on charges of espionage and endangering national security.

In January, Ms. Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration “continues to work to bring him back home along with US citizens illegally detained in Iran, including Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz.”