The European Union’s Directorate-General for External Policies released an October report on sanctions against Iran and the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The report includes an overview of the EU’s foreign policy objectives for Iran, the return of U.S. sanctions against Iran (see 2009210022) and how the EU should move forward. The report recommends the EU remain committed to the JCPOA and reject U.S. calls for sanctions. “Europe should continue to send clear messages to Tehran that it is not going to align with the US maximum pressure campaign and will remain committed to the deal, despite the challenges faced,” the report said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a member of Lebanon’s Parliament for corruption, the agency said Nov. 6. The designation targets Gibran Bassil, president of the Free Patriotic Movement political party. OFAC said Bassil has held several “high-level” positions in the Lebanese government and has been “marked by significant allegations of corruption.”
The European Union renewed its sanctions regime against Turkey’s illegal drilling activities in the Mediterranean for one year, a Nov. 6 notice said. The regime, extended until Nov. 12, 2021, currently targets two people.
The European Union is increasingly losing out in technology competition with the U.S. and China, technology and trade experts said during a Nov. 6 event hosted by Chatham House. While they suggested more EU cooperation with the U.S., they also said Europe needs a different approach to technology regulation to keep from falling further behind.
The U.S. seized 27 domain names registered to the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Justice Department said Nov. 4. The domain names were being used to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran and the IRGC, including by acting as if they were “genuine news outlets” to target U.S. audiences and influence U.S. public opinion, the Justice Department said. The IRGC’s operation of the domains violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations, which block U.S. people from providing services to the Iranian government without a license. The move follows previous U.S. seizures of domain names operated by the IRGC (see 2010080026).
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation renewed two designations under its terrorism and terrorist financing sanctions list, a Nov. 4 notice said. The U.K. renewed sanctions against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
Two Iranian businessmen sanctioned by the U.S. said they were illegally targeted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and asked the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to vacate their designations. Behzad Ferdows and Mehrzad Ferdows, residents of Germany and Iran, said in a Nov. 5 lawsuit that OFAC violated “constitutional norms,” statutory requirements and failed to follow due process when the agency sanctioned both men in September.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is considering export controls on certain “software” that can be exploited to develop biological weapons (see 2010010003) and requested feedback from industry about the impact of the controls, the agency said in a Nov. 5 notice. The controls would target software “for the operation of nucleic acid assemblers and synthesizers” that can design and build “functional genetic elements from digital sequence data.” The controls would fall under BIS’s emerging technology effort, and comments are due Dec. 21.
The State Department approved another potential military sale to Taiwan worth about $600 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Nov. 3, drawing backlash from China. The sale includes four “Weapons-Ready MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft” and related equipment. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. will be the principal contractor.
The State Department removed certain sanctions from an Islamic organization in western China, it said in a notice released Nov 4. The move revoked the designation of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement as a “terrorist organization” under the Immigration and Nationality Act.