The EU Parliament Oct. 6 called for the EU to impose sanctions on Iranian officials following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and the subsequent violence committed against protesters after her death. Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman, was killed while in custody of Iran's "morality police" after violating the country's strict veiling laws. She died in a Tehran hospital three days after suffering injuries from physical abuse while in custody. "The EU must sanction Iranian officials involved in the regime’s repression," the parliament said. The U.S. and Canada have already designated individuals and entities linked to Amini's death and the later human rights violations committed following her passing (see 2209220029).
The State Department on Oct. 6 sent an interim final rule for interagency review that proposes to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule will propose to amend the ITAR by “specifying two additional activities.”
The U.S. shouldn’t ease oil sanctions and other trade restrictions against Venezuela, which would only benefit a “criminal network known for pretending to negotiate while extorting for sanctions relief,” Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week. The two lawmakers said they are “deeply troubled” by reports that the Biden administration is considering lifting some sanctions to convince the Nicolas Maduro regime to allow free and fair presidential elections in 2024 (see 2210060014).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 7 sanctioned two people and three entities for their involvement in the export of petroleum to North Korea. The designations target Singapore-based Kwek Kee Seng, Taiwan-based Chen Shih Huan and Marshall Islands-registered company New Eastern Shipping, all of which were “involved in the ownership or management” of the Courageous, a vessel that has delivered refined petroleum to North Korea. OFAC also sanctioned Singapore-registered Anfasar Trading and Singapore registered Swanseas Port Services for being owned or controlled by Kwek.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 7 sanctioned one person and two entities in Malaysia for the “cruel trafficking” of endangered wildlife and the “products of brutal poaching.” The designations target Malaysian national Teo Boon Ching, the Teo Boon Ching Wildlife Trafficking Transnational Criminal Organization and Malaysian company Sunrise Greenland. OFAC said Ching specializes in transporting rhino horn, ivory and pangolins from Africa, and uses routes through Malaysia and Laos and “onward to consumers in Vietnam and China.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security added 31 Chinese entities to its Unverified List last week, including Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., a semiconductor firm that U.S. lawmakers for months have urged BIS to add to the more restrictive Entity List. The final rule, which took effect Oct. 7, also removed nine other entities from the UVL and included new guidance on what types of criteria and activities may lead to the transfer of UVL entries to the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week announced a broad set of new export controls it said will restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors. The controls, outlined in an interim final rule that will take effect in phases, will impose new restrictions on a range of advanced computing semiconductor chips and semiconductor manufacturing items, impose controls on transactions for supercomputer end-uses and certain integrated circuit end-uses, and introduce new restrictions on transactions involving certain entities on the Entity List.
After the EU agreed to its eighth sanctions package on Russia over its war in Ukraine (see 2210050053), Russia said the restrictions would come with consequences and could lead to a temporary cut in the country's production of oil. The sanctions package includes a price cap on Russian oil. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, speaking to Bloomberg TV, said Russia won't sell oil to any countries to impose a price cap, Bloomberg reported Oct. 5.
Eddy Johan Coopmans, a Ponte Vedra, Florida, resident, pleaded guilty Oct. 4 to conspiring to illegally export controlled technology out of the U.S. in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas announced. The technology included space grade field programmable gate array circuits meant for Russia and China. Cooper, along with an unnamed foreign national, communicated with individuals the pair believed would help them smuggle the technology, then paid them around $1.2 million and made false statements to government regulators, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Oct. 5. Coopmans was indicted in 2019 and faces up to five years in federal prison.
The Biden administration is preparing to relax sanctions against Venezuela and the Nicolas Maduro regime to allow Chevron to resume oil activities in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 5. The decision to loosen sanctions, which is still under discussion and may “fall through,” could eventually lead to the reopening of U.S. and European markets for Venezuelan oil, the report said. In exchange for the lifting of sanctions, the U.S. would expect Venezuela to resume talks with the country’s opposition party to discuss holding free and fair presidential elections in 2024, the report said. “There are no plans to change our sanctions policy without constructive steps from the Maduro regime,” Adrienne Watson, National Security Council spokesperson, told WSJ. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.