The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license that eliminates the expiration date for certain authorized transactions with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, an international crude oil transportation project involving Russia, and the Tengizchevroil project, another oil venture involving Chevron and Kazakhstan. New General License 124 authorizes certain transactions with those projects that would normally be prohibited under a January determination that blocks the provision of U.S. petroleum services to parties in Russia (see 2501100027).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned six people and 12 entities in Iran and China for helping Iran source the manufacturing of critical materials needed for the country's ballistic missile program, including carbon fiber.
The U.S. government could improve its ability to wield its economic statecraft tools, including sanctions, export controls and investment screening, by making several organizational changes, such as creating an interagency coordinating body co-led by a new high-ranking official at the State Department, a researcher told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific May 14.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned about two dozen entities and vessels with ties to Iran's oil trade, including front companies that it said are hiding the origin of Iranian oil, China-based buyers, and ships moving Iranian oil. The designations target companies and ships in Hong Kong, Singapore and Iran, and vessels carrying the flags of Cameroon and Panama and their owners based in Hong Kong and the Seychelles.
A bipartisan group of five senators urged the Trump administration May 9 to use “all available tools” to hold foreign entities accountable for fueling Sudan’s two-year-old civil war.
The U.S. this week sanctioned three Iranian nationals and one entity for their ties to Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, which works on nuclear weapons projects. The designations target Sayyed Mohammad Reza Seddighi Saber, Ahmad Haghighat Talab and Mohammad Reza Mehdipur along with the entity Fuya Pars Prospective Technologists.
Nature’s Sunshine Products, a dietary supplement manufacturer headquartered in Utah, may have violated U.S. sanctions and export controls, it disclosed this month.
The U.S. this week sanctioned a Chinese refinery and three port terminal operators for their role in buying Iranian oil. It also sanctioned multiple companies, vessels and ship captains responsible for moving those oil shipments as part of Iran’s shadow fleet.
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week designated the Myanmar militia group Karen National Army as a transnational criminal organization for its role in supporting multiple cyber-scam syndicates targeting U.S. citizens. OFAC also sanctioned the group’s leader, Saw Chit Thu, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit.