Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
American building materials supplier Construction Specialties Inc. (CS) reached a $660,594 settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week for allegedly violating sanctions against Iran. OFAC said the company’s United Arab Emirates subsidiary, Construction Specialties Middle East (CSME), illegally reexported more than $1 million worth of construction materials to Iran and falsified trade documents to hide their destination.
A Senate bill with bipartisan support could continue U.S. sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program after the potential October sunset of U.N. Security Council restrictions against that country. The Making Iran Sanctions Stick in Lieu of Expiration of Sanctions Act, introduced by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., would ensure that Iran’s missile development activities remain subject to “appropriate U.S. sanctions in the likely event that Russia and China block an extension of UN restrictions in the Security Council” later this year.
A group of European countries not in the EU aligned with a recent sanctions move from the bloc under its Iran sanctions regime, the European Council said July 14. The council in June amended the list of sanctioned individuals and entities. The countries of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway also imposed the decision.
The EU General Court last week affirmed a European Commission decision that allowed German securities depository bank Clearstream Banking to comply with U.S. sanctions on Iran. The case stemmed from a commission decision in 2020 that authorized Clearstream to withhold payment of dividends to German firm IFIC Holding, whose shares are indirectly held by the Iranian government. IFIC had asked the General Court to annul the decision.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The EU added seven Iranian government officials, security officers and judges to its Iran sanctions list for committing "serious human rights violations." The designations target prosecutor Seyyed Mohammad Mousvian and deputy judge Ali Zare Nouri, both responsible for trials against protesters who were later executed, the European Council said June 26. Sanctions were also applied to Iranian officials Seyyed Nader Safavi Mirmahalleh and Seyyed Abbas Hosseini and police or military officials Seyyed Khalil Safavi, Mojtaba Fada and Rashid Kaboud Vandi.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week advanced two sanctions-related bills, one involving China and another dealing with Iran.
Republican senators reintroduced a bill last week that would allow Congress to approve or disapprove of Biden administration efforts to lift sanctions against Iran. The Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act, first introduced in 2021 (see 2102260025), would “provide a check on the Biden administration if they try to circumvent Congress during negotiations,” said Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman, both of Arkansas. “Congress should review any sanctions relief Iran receives.”
Canada this week announced a new set of sanctions against Iran, designating seven Iranian judges for their role in “gross and systematic human rights violations.” Canada said the judges are “notorious” for issuing death sentences and prison terms following sham trials based on evidence “gathered under torture.” The designations help align Canada’s Iran sanctions regime with those administered by the U.S., the EU and the U.K., the country said.