The Office of Foreign Assets Control will revoke a Belarus-related general license that authorizes certain transactions with nine sanctioned state-owned entities, OFAC and the State Department said April 19. OFAC issued Belarus General License 2H, replacing License 2G (see 1910220027), which authorizes a 45-day wind-down period for transactions with those entities and any entities in which they own at least 50%. The wind-down period will end 12:01 a.m. June 3.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined an Oklahoma steel manufacturer about $435,000 for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, OFAC said April 19. Alliance Steel committed 61 sanctions violation by maintaining a “business relationship” with an Iranian company for five years, OFAC said.
Congress should codify regulations from a November executive order that imposed investment bans on certain Chinese companies with ties to the military, said Matt Pottinger, a former deputy national security adviser during the Trump administration. He also said the U.S. should take a stricter stance on export licenses involving semiconductor shipments as China tries to become the world’s “only” supplier of advanced technologies.
The European Council will provide 1.37 million euros in new funding for implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty, the body announced in an April 16 news release. The additional funding will be to assist treaty signees with their national arms export control systems, the release detailed. EU support will be tailored to training local and regional ATT experts to foster greater implementation, creating a database to match implementation needs and resources, and building IT and communications systems to enable better cooperation between the ATT points of contacts for member countries and the ATT Secretariat, the EC said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a Maryland company and its owner $42,000 for illegally exporting crime control items, BIS said in an April 15 order. The agency said Panther Trading Company (PTC) of Landsdowne and its owner, Harsimran Singh, illegally exported $11,000 worth of crime control equipment to Mexico, $22,000 worth of goods to the Dominican Republic and helped a Nigerian buyer buy $12,343 worth of goods.
Two Republican lawmakers urged the Biden administration to increase sanctions against Nord Stream 2, the Russian gas pipeline, after reports that Russia is preparing to further invade Ukraine. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Jim Risch of Idaho, the two top Republicans on the House and Senate’s respective foreign affairs committees, applauded the administration’s increased Russian sanctions last week (see 2104150019) but said more should be done. “While yesterday’s sanctions on Russia are a positive half-step, they did not include the one U.S. action that would have an immediate impact -- sanctioning and stopping the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” the lawmakers said April 16. They said the pipeline is a “key source of Russian malign influence” and called on the administration to “fully” implement sanctions against the project “without delay.” Several other lawmakers from both parties have asked the administration to increase sanctions against the pipeline (see 2102170013, 2103240014 and 2008110016). The White House didn’t comment.
The United Nations Security Council removed six Iraq-related entries from its sanctions list, an April 15 news release said. The entries are: the General Establishment for Bakeries and Ovens, the General Establishment for Flour Mills, the Iraqi State Export Organization, the Iraqi State Import Organization, the State Trading Enterprise for Equipment and Hand Tools and the State Trading Enterprise for Machinery.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation removed six entities from its Iraq sanctions regime in an April 16 financial sanctions notice. The General Establishment for Bakeries and Ovens, General Establishment for Flour Mills, Iraqi State Import Export Organization, Iraqi State Import Organization, State Trading Enterprise for Equipment and Hand Tools and State Trading Enterprise for Machinery are no longer subject to an asset freeze. The entities were originally listed under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
The European Council added one individual to its sanctions regime on the ISIL/Da'esh and Al-Qaida, it said in an April 15 news release. Mesut Sekerci will now be subject to a travel ban and asset freeze for his role in ISIL. Sekerci's listing brings to six the total number of listed individuals under the EU's ISIL sanctions regime.
Chinese imports are helping grow sanctioned Iranian oil production to its highest levels in nearly two years, the Wall Street Journal reported April 15. The Journal, citing the International Energy Agency, said China has boosted its Iranian oil purchases to 600,000 barrels a day, which is five times higher than in the first nine months of 2020. The report said Chinese buyers appear to have increased their purchases after the U.S. election of President Joe Biden, who vowed a return to the Iranian nuclear deal, an agreement that had suspended certain sanctions against Iran. A U.S. lawmaker last week asked the State Department to provide information on whether China is violating U.S. sanctions on Iran (see 2104140053).