The EU is considering more sanctions against Iran in response to the government's violent crackdown against protesters in recent days, said Kaja Kallas, the European Commission's foreign affairs chief and president of the Foreign Affairs Council. Speaking in Berlin before a meeting with the German defense minister, Kallas said the Iranian regime has a "track record of brutally suppressing protests," calling it "unacceptable." While the EU "already has sweeping sanctions in place" against people in Iran for human rights abuses, "we are discussing on putting additional sanctions," she said.
The U.S. highlighted at the U.N. this week what it called North Korea's continued violations of sanctions violations and its attempted evasion of those measures, including through cryptocurrency, cybercrime, its deployments of information technology workers around the world, and more. The findings were outlined in a report from the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group formed to report on North Korea-related sanctions breaches (see 2410170003).
The U.S. this week sanctioned the Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches of the Muslim Brotherhood for their support of Hamas and terrorism, the Treasury and State departments announced. The State Department specifically labeled the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and it also applied the SDGT label to Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, who Treasury said is the secretary general of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood.
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The House voted 369-22 late Jan. 12 to pass the Remote Access Security Act, which aims to close a “loophole” that allows China to use cloud service providers to access advanced U.S. chips remotely.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is easing its license review policy for certain chip exports to China but requiring exporters to meet several pre-conditions, including by certifying that there is “sufficient supply” of the chip in the U.S. and that the chips will be subject to “rigorous” know your customer procedures.
The State Department is accepting applications for its Defense Export Controls and Compliance System 2026 User Group, which will provide feedback to the agency on DECCS functionality and suggest potential improvements. The agency’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls will appoint 50 industry volunteers to the user group, all of whom must be enrolled with DECCS and represent companies, government agencies or third-party organizations involved in defense trade. Member terms will last one year. Applicants should email PM_DDTCProjectTeam@state.gov by the close of business on Jan. 23 with their name and company or government affiliation.
House and Senate negotiators unveiled a compromise FY 2026 financial services and general government appropriations bill Jan. 11 that would fully fund the Trump administration’s request for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) while slightly cutting its request for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
The Trump administration could soon turn its attention to the Cuban government after capturing Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, the former leader of Cuba’s major oil supplier, said Matthew Kroenig, a former U.S. defense and intelligence official.
Reps. Jefferson Shreve, R-Ind., and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., introduced a bill Jan. 9 aimed at bolstering the technical staffing of the Bureau of Industry and Security.