President Donald Trump said Nov. 7 that he’s considering giving Hungary an exemption from sanctions that his administration recently imposed on two major Russian energy companies.
The Treasury Department won’t issue a license to Gunvor Corp. to operate Lukoil’s international energy business in the event of its sale, the agency said on social media last week. “As long as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin continues the senseless killings, the Kremlin’s puppet, Gunvor, will never get a license to operate and profit,” Treasury said.
Australia last week sanctioned four entities and one individual with ties to North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The designations, added to the country’s consolidated sanctions list Nov. 6, target an alleged computer hacker and four hacking groups associated with North Korean intelligence programs.
The Defense Department will transfer oversight of its defense export functions from its policy head to its acquisition chief as part of a broader bureaucracy streamlining effort, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Nov. 7.
The Australian Sanctions Office this month published a new format for its consolidated sanctions list to include "several significant changes that we believe will enhance its usability and clarity," the agency said in a Nov. 5. email to industry. The changes include standardized formats for dates of birth, nationalities and other information on the sanctions measures applicable to each listing, "such as targeted financial sanctions, travel bans, arms embargoes, or maritime sanctions," the agency said. The list now also includes vessels designated under Australia's maritime sanctions powers.
A federal jury this week convicted New York resident Ji Wang on charges of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets after the U.S. said he stole information about optical fibers for high-powered lasers and planned to use that information to start a business in China.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa said Nov. 6 that he’s “deeply concerned” that Iran’s oil exports are reportedly increasing despite the Trump administration’s efforts to cut a key source of funding for Tehran’s terrorist proxies.
The U.K. on Nov. 6 added two entries to its domestic counterterrorism sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation sanctioned the New Irish Republican Army and Kieran James Gallagher, who's suspected of "being involved in terrorist activity by providing financial services, or making available funds or economic resources, for the purposes of terrorism." Gallagher was also made subject to director disqualification sanctions, which bar him from acting as a director of a company or taking part in the management of one.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three people who it said helped to funnel tens of millions of dollars from Iran to Hezbollah this year, which allowed the terror group to "support its paramilitary forces, rebuild its terrorist infrastructure, and resist the Lebanese government’s efforts to assert sovereign control over all Lebanese territory." The designations target Hezbollah member Ossama Jaber, as well as Ja’far Muhammad Qasir and Samer Kasbar, who help manage Hezbollah's finances.
Although China agreed to temporarily suspend its sweeping rare earth export restrictions, the threat of those controls returning appears likely, said Jude Blanchette, director of the Rand China Research Center.