Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a bill Sept. 9 to impose property-blocking sanctions on Nigerian officials who permit or promote the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
The four lawmakers who lead the U.S. Helsinki Commission, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, urged the Trump administration last week to sanction additional Russian officials and private citizens involved in corruption or human rights abuses.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control's new general license for Belavia Belarusian Airlines (see 2509110029), the state-owned flagship carrier of Belarus, was issued last week because Belarusian authorities recently released dozens of political prisoners, "demonstrating their desire to re-engage with the West," a State Department spokesperson said in an email Sept. 12.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Gebreil Ibrahim Mohamed Fediel and the Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade for their ties both to Sudan’s civil war and Iran.
The U.K. on Sept. 12 added three people and 27 entities to its Russia sanctions list as part of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's recent announcement of 100 new sanctions targeting Russia's "shadow fleet" -- which carries Russian oil -- along with "key suppliers of military components."
The State Department began an interagency review Sept. 11 for a final rule involving an exemption within the International Traffic in Arms Regulations for defense trade between the AUKUS nations of Australia, U.K. and the U.S. The rule could build on the agency's August 2024 interim final rule that created the exemption and aimed to remove certain export control barriers for a range of items that had previously faced strict license requirements under the ITAR (see 2408160019).
Former U.S. trade representative Michael Froman, at an event hosted by the centrist think tank Brookings Institution, said deciding how to apply export controls is "really difficult," and quite technical, as technologies evolve.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency review that would revise Biden-era regulations that increased restrictions on firearms exports. The rule, sent for a review Aug. 4 and completed Sept. 10, is expected to reverse some of those restrictions amid lobbying from gun industry advocates (see 2505290012 and 2506050050).
The Bureau of Industry and Security has started restricting the public sessions of its technical advisory committee meetings, a move that has jeopardized a crucial outlet for industry feedback about new regulations, current and former administration officials and industry representatives said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week added 32 entities to the Entity List, most of them based in China, for either circumventing export controls on China, supplying controlled items to Russia, evading BIS end-use checks, supporting China’s military modernization, or other activities that BIS said breached U.S. export rules.