Speaking at a cryptocurrency conference in New York, Sigal Mandelker, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said more countries are turning to digital currencies to evade U.S. sanctions. She also stressed the importance of complying with the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions programs, rejected the notion of a “one-size-fits-all” compliance program and warned that Treasury is looking into small actors -- not just large companies -- who commit violations.
There seems to be a growing interest in ways to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls, several experts said while speaking at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on May 9. One panelist specifically pointed to China, which he said he expects to begin smuggling oil from Iran to avoid U.S. sanctions.
The European Union said it would “reject any ultimatums” imposed by Iran after the country announced May 8 it is suspending some of its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, effective immediately (see 1905080058). In a May 9 statement, the EU said it has “great concern” over Iran’s demands and “strongly” urged it to “refrain from any escalatory steps,” but also said it disapproves of U.S.-imposed sanctions on Iran following U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA.
During a House hearing on China’s influence in Europe, several experts said the U.S. needs to more strongly cooperate with Europe against Chinese trading practices and economic influences, including on export controls and information sharing.
Iran is suspending some of its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that involve selling enriched uranium in exchange for natural uranium and making “heavy water reserves” available on the open market, according to a May 8 press release from the Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If the “E3, Russia and China” do not “fulfill their banking and oil commitments to Iran” within 60 days, the country may “not respect the current limits on uranium enrichment and may take measures to modernise the Arak heavy water reactor,” according to a May 8 post on the EU Sanctions blog.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 29 -May 3 in case they were missed.
The U.S. is renewing five of seven Iran-related sanctions waivers that allow Russia and European countries to “conduct civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran,” according to a May 3 report from the Associated Press. The waivers were extended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for 90 days to allow work at “several Iranian nuclear sites to continue without U.S. penalties,” the AP reported.
Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are working on legislation that would strengthen U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia, they said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting May 1. Engel said they are planning to introduce a bill that will “protect America’s interests, ramp up the targeted sanctions, enhance diplomacy and counter propaganda efforts to meet the Russian threat.” McCaul said he and Engel had breakfast with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier that day and said “there’s no doubt” Pompeo “looks at Russia as a great threat” to the U.S. “I don't think this is a partisan issue,” McCaul said. “I hope we can pass legislation out of this committee.”
It's unclear how North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got the armored Mercedes-Maybach limousines made by Daimler that Kim used for several recent meetings with international leaders, a spokesman for the company said. In an April 29 email, a Daimler spokesman said the company has a “comprehensive export control process” to “prevent” all sales to North Korea. “We have no indication how those vehicles have come to the use of” North Korea, he said. Exports of luxury goods to North Korea are banned under United Nations sanctions, and sanctions imposed by the U.S. allow the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to designate any person who “engages in a significant export to or import from North Korea,” according to the Treasury.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a settlement of $75,375 with Haverly Systems, a New Jersey software company with offices in Texas and California, for violations of the Ukraine Related Sanctions regulations, OFAC said in an April 25 enforcement notice. Haverly violated the sanctions twice between May 2016 and January 2017 when it “dealt in new debt of greater than 90 days maturity” with JSC Rosneft, a Russian oil company that was designated under Ukraine-related sanctions, OFAC said.