The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on March 4 published a trade and export guide on doing business in Iran to support "sanctions-compliant trade" with the country. The guidance outlines export opportunities in the agriculture, healthcare, and food and drink industries along with the risks of doing business in Iran and the Iranian legal system. OFSI also summarized its current sanctions on Iran, which include trade sanctions on military goods, nuclear and missile-related goods and more.
The Biden administration and Congress should wield a wide range of tools to choke off Iran’s oil exports, which are fueling Tehran’s support for terrorist groups, a former State Department official said Feb. 28.
A U.K. citizen was sentenced to 18 months in prison Jan. 31 for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran by exporting and attempting to export dual-use goods to Iran without the required license.
A bipartisan group of 18 senators led by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., sent a letter Jan. 31 to President Joe Biden urging him to boost enforcement of oil sanctions on Iran to curb Tehran’s ability to fund terrorism.
Behrouz Mokhtari of McLean, Virginia, and Tehran pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to two conspiracies to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran "by engaging in business activities on behalf of Iranian entities" without getting a license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced Jan. 9. Mokhtari will forfeit money, property and assets obtained from the schemes, including a Campbell, California, home, and a money judgment of over $2.8 million, DOJ said. The defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the two conspiracy counts.
Electronics distribution company Broad Tech System and its president and owner, Tao Jiang of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to participating in a conspiracy to illegally ship chemicals made or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Jiang and Broad Tech admitted to violating the Export Control Act and conspiring to commit money laundering.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on Dec. 18 amended entries under its Russia and Iran sanctions regimes.
The U.S. and the U.K. on Dec. 14 announced a coordinated set of sanctions targeting senior Iranian military officials, including those supporting the “terrorist activities” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The U.S., the U.K. and Canada last week issued a range of new sanctions to mark the internationally recognized Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, designating people across more than 10 jurisdictions for their ties to human rights violations. They include U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials with ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including one designated under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
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