President Joe Biden will maintain Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ designation as a foreign terrorist organization, removing the designation as a negotiating chip in a renewed nuclear deal with Iran, Politico reported May 24. The designation, which subjects the group to certain sanctions, was made as part of the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign against Iran. Naftali Bennett, Israel’s prime minister, applauded the decision in a May 24 tweet. “I welcome the decision by the US Administration to keep Iran’s IRGC on the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list -- which is where it belongs.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review for a final rule that would introduce a congressional notification requirement for certain weapons exports. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs May 17 (see 2205180006) and completed May 24, would require notifications for certain semiautomatic firearms exports under the Export Administration Regulations.
The European Commission this week announced two new proposals to harmonize how member states penalize sanctions violations and to modernize the EU’s recovery rules for sanctioned assets. The measures will help the EU better target and punish sanctions evaders, said Vera Jourova, the commission’s vice president for values and transparency. “The violation of EU sanctions is a serious crime and must come with serious consequences,” Jourova said. “We need EU-wide rules to establish that.”
Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez said his top long-term priority is building a new multilateral export control regime, and he urged industry to continue considering diversifying away from China and Russia. He also said BIS is working hard to control emerging and foundational technologies and welcomes more input from industry, academia and think tanks.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week finalized its new controls on cybersecurity items, making several changes to the rule’s language and addressing some questions from the public comment period. The changes include revisions to the definition of “government end user” and other actions to “clarify the scope of controls,” BIS said in a final rule effective May 26.
China’s Foreign Ministry this week criticized the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, saying it “will only undermine regional peace and stability and is doomed to fail.” During a May 24 news conference, a ministry spokesperson said the U.S. “concocted” the strategy, which will soon lead to the start of negotiations with several other countries on a new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (see 2205230003), and “created political and military confrontation by ganging up with some countries.” China’s Ministry of Commerce said the framework “should be open and inclusive rather than discriminatory and exclusive,” according to an unofficial translation of a May 24 statement.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on May 24 corrected one entry under its Iran sanctions regime and amended 63 entries under its Russia sanctions regime. All entries are still subject to an asset freeze.
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued a new general license authorizing certain activities, including purchases of tickets for flights or “rail journeys” originating in Russia. The license, issued May 23, authorizes those activities with sanctioned Russian entities PJSC Aeroflot, JSC Rossiya Airlines, JSC Ural Airlines, Russian Railways or any of their subsidiaries.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control added a Hamas finance official, three Hamas financial facilitators, and six companies that have generated revenues for Hamas to its Specially Designated Nationals list, it announced May 24. The "expansive network" has generated revenue for the group through the management of an international investment portfolio, a related press release said. Hamas’s Investment Office is in charge of the day-to-day management of its estimated $500 million portfolio, including companies operating in Sudan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. “Today’s action targets the individuals and companies that Hamas uses to conceal and launder funds. ... The United States is committed to denying Hamas the ability to generate and move funds,” Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Elizabeth Rosenberg said.
Canada last week imposed another set of sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine, designating 14 people and banning exports and imports of “targeted” luxury goods to and from Russia. The designations apply to Russian oligarchs, their family members and “close associates” of the Vladimir Putin regime. The trade restrictions apply to exports of alcohol, tobacco, certain textile products, luxury clothing, jewelry, art and accessories, and imports of alcohol, seafood and nonindustrial diamonds.