Canada last week announced a new set of Iran designations, targeting two Iranian officials involved in implementing policies that violate human rights, “particularly against women and girls of women and girls.” The country said the chief executive of the Tehran metro system, Masoud Dorosti, enforces a mandatory hijab law on public transit, while a senior parliamentarian, Zohreh Elahian, has supported the death penalty for protesters who advocate for women’s rights. “These two individuals have used their positions of influence to call for or carry out increasingly repressive measures against women and girls in Iran,” Canada said.
U.S. Army solider and intelligence analyst Korbein Schultz was arrested March 7 on charges of exporting defense-related technical data without a license and conspiracy to export defense articles, DOJ announced. A federal grand jury also indicted him on a charge of conspiracy to obtain national defense information and bribery of a public official.
Four House Republican Cuban-Americans urged the Biden administration March 8 to retain Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, saying the label and its accompanying sanctions remain warranted.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a reminder to industry last week that it will retire its public-facing file transfer protocol (FTP) server later this year to comply with updated Treasury Department security policies (see 2306090037). OFAC said many people use the server -- which will be retired "on or about" June 10 -- to automate their sanctions list data downloads.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two companies for “advancing Russia’s malign activities” in the Central African Republic, including by providing “material and financial support” to Wagner Group, the sanctioned Russian private military. The designations target CAR-based Bois Rouge SARLU, also known as Wood International Group SARLU, and Russia-based Limited Liability Company Broker Expert.
Governments could eventually require companies to monitor their sensitive semiconductor equipment shipments by using location tracking features, which could help industry better conduct due diligence and improve government export enforcement, said Chris Miller, an expert on semiconductor technology policy and history.
The European General Court in a pair of decisions on March 6 rejected challenges to the EU's restrictions on wood and iron and steel products from Belarus. The court, in virtually identical opinions, rejected a trio of claims from Belarusian wood company AAT Mostovdrev and iron and steel company AAT Byelorussian Steel Works challenging the European Council's reasons for imposing the restrictions and infringement of the right to "effective judicial protection," alleged failure to observe the "principle of equal treatment," and imposition of measures disproportionately affecting the wood and iron and steel industries.
Japan added another eight individuals linked to Hamas to its terrorist sanctions list March 5, the country's Ministry of Finance announced, according to an unofficial translation. The individuals are Ahmed Sharif Abdallah Odeh, Reda Ali Khamis, Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, Ali Abed Al Rahman Baraka, Maher Rebhi Obeid, Ismail Musa Ahmad Barhum, Hassan Al-Wardian and Zuhair Shamlakh.
Chinese semiconductor innovation could become “more difficult to assess” as Beijing grows more cautious about advertising its successes, which it fears could invite new U.S. export controls, said Paul Triolo, a China and technology policy expert.
A federal grand jury indicted Chinese national Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, for allegedly stealing trade secrets on artificial intelligence technology from Google, DOJ announced March 6. Ding, who was residing in California, purportedly transferred the trade secrets from "Google's network to his personal account while secretly affiliating himself with" Chinese companies in the AI industry.