The House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 16 approved several bills that could impose sanctions on China, Russia and the Houthis and tighten export controls on China.
Australia sanctioned several Iranian senior government and military officials, businesspeople and companies linked to the country’s “destabilising behaviour” of its missile and drone programs, which has “fostered instability across the region for many years,” Australia’s foreign affairs ministry said this week. Among the designations are Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, Iran’s defense minister, and Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force. Australia also sanctioned the IRGC Navy, which it said wrongly seized an Israeli-linked and Portuguese-flagged civilian ship in international waters on April 13.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and three entities in Russia for helping to transfer weapons and other military items from North Korea, including shipments of mortars, military communications equipment and aviation parts.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and three entities in Russia for helping to transfer weapons and other military items from North Korea, including shipments of mortars, military communications equipment and aviation parts.
U.S. companies doing business in Turkey should be “alert” about possible violations of U.S. antiboycott laws after Turkey announced a ban on trade with Israel earlier this month (see 2405030020), the Bureau of Industry and Security said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is updating the scope of an Iran-related general license to limit the computing power threshold for laptops, tablets and other personal computing devices that can be exported or reexported to Iran. The agency also revised its Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations to make “additional conforming changes.”
Lithuania's customs agency fined an unnamed Lithuanian company over $357,000 for buying and importing goods from sanctioned Russian companies "Nizhnekamsktekhuglerod" and "Nizhnekamskneftekhim," according to an unofficial translation. The former is a technology company, the latter makes synthetic rubber and plastics.
A recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling could have implications for how certain sanctions-related payment issues are treated under force majeure clauses in contracts.
A bipartisan group of five House members led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., introduced a bill that would expand the list of Belarusian authorities who could face U.S. sanctions, Smith’s office announced May 15.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Ali Yagoub Gibril and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, two military officers with the Rapid Support Forces, a warring group that has contributed to conflict in Sudan. OFAC designated Gibril for being the RSF Central Darfur commander and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed for being an RSF major general and the group’s head of operations. The agency said RSF began attacks in North Darfur last month, which have “caused dozens of civilian casualties, including children.”