The U.S. officially initiated the snapback of United Nations sanctions on Iran (see 2008210009), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sept. 19. The move will return “virtually all” sanctions on Iran that were previously terminated by the U.N. under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Pompeo said. He said the U.S. made the move because the U.N. did not extend the Iranian arms embargo scheduled to expire in October (see 2004130011).
A U.S. technology company is being investigated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control for possible Iran sanctions violations, the company said in an Aug. 4 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. California-based Harmonic Inc. said OFAC is looking into transactions made with Iran by France-based Thomson Video Networks, which Harmonic acquired in 2016. The company said it may be subject to civil, criminal and monetary penalties, the loss of export privileges or “in extreme cases, imprisonment of responsible employees.”
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The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended 10 entries on its Iran sanctions list, a June 22 notice said. The entries include updated identifying information and are still subject to asset freezes. They include eight individuals and two entities.
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A U.S. official again argued that the U.S. has the authority to invoke snapback sanctions under the Iran nuclear deal and threatened to impose them unless an international arms embargo against Iran is extended. Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, said the U.S. will trigger a United Nations provision to reimpose a host of international sanctions against Iran if the arms embargo, set to expire in October, is not extended. Without the embargo, Iran could import a range of advanced military weapons from China and Russia, Hook said. “One way or another, we're going to accomplish this,” he said, speaking during a June 9 virtual talk hosted by the Heritage Foundation.
The U.S. is seeking to withdraw a case against a man convicted of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran (see 2003180019), according to court records filed June 5. U.S. prosecutors said the case should be dropped due to “disclosure-related issues” during the March trial, which would likely lead to “continued litigation about” suppression of evidence. “The Government has determined that it would not be in the interests of justice to further prosecute this case,” prosecutors said in a letter to the court.
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The Treasury Department disputed a report that said South Korea obtained a “special license” to export humanitarian goods to Iran (see 2004170026), saying the country may be using an existing general license but did not receive an additional exemption. The Office of Foreign Assets Control “has not issued a ‘special license’ to the Koreans,” a Treasury spokesperson said. OFAC’s Iran sanctions regime contains “broad exemptions” for humanitarian exports, which may make some South Korean exports “permissible,” the spokesperson said.
The Trump administration should take more “diplomatic action” to renew the expiring United Nations arms embargo on Iran, U.S. lawmakers said in a dear colleague letter being circulated. Even though Iran continually violates UN bans on arms transfers, the ban is an “important means” to restrict weapons sales to Iran, the lawmakers said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The expiration of the arms embargo, which is set for October, could lead to more states buying and selling weapons to and from Iran, which could have “disastrous consequences” for U.S. national security. The lawmakers also urged Pompeo to “make clear” that U.S. sanctions on Iranian arms transfers will “remain in place and will be fully enforced.”