Days before Turkey followed through on purchases of Russian S-400 missile parts, a State Department official said there would be “consequences” if Turkey followed through on the deal and warned the country would be at risk of U.S. sanctions. R. Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 10 that the Trump administration has “made it very clear” to Turkey that the purchase would likely prompt sanctions. Turkey completed the purchase on July 13, according to a Reuters report. A House resolution passed in June also called for the U.S. to impose sanctions on Turkey if it completed the purchase.
The U.S. has not yet delivered the $8 billion in emergency arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates it announced on May 24, a State Department official told a Senate committee, causing both Republican and Democratic senators to question why the sales justified an emergency.
Britain is offering to release Grace 1, the seized Iranian oil tanker, if Iran can provide proof the ship is not transporting oil to Syria, United Kingdom Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said July 13. The ship was originally seized by Gibraltar Port and Law Enforcement on July 4 after British authorities suspected it of shipping oil to Syria, which would have violated European Union sanctions (see 1907080022). The ship was seized in Gibraltar territorial waters.
The United Kingdom updated three of its sanctions guides, the U.K. said in a series of July 10 press releases. The U.K. updated its guides on financial sanctions, terrorism-related sanctions and Venezuela sanctions.
A Florida resident was arrested for export violations after he illegally shipped hundreds of assault rifle parts to an Argentine weapons trafficking organization, the Justice Department said in a July 12 press release. Cristian German Barrera, who was charged with conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, did not have the proper license to export AR-15 assault rifle parts to Argentina, the Justice Department said. U.S. Homeland Security Investigations officials worked with Argentine law enforcement to seize the weapons parts, which included long arms, handguns, a mortar round and more than 30,000 rounds of ammunition, the press release said.
The United Nations Security Council sanctioned five people for failing to implement certain provisions in the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, the council said in a July 10 press release and statement. The sanctioned people are Ahmed Ag Albachar, Houka Houka Ag Alhousseini, Mahri Sidi Amar Ben Daha, Mohamed Ben Ahmed Mahri and Mohamed Ould Mataly, the council said.
China plans to impose sanctions on U.S. companies that sell defense products to Taiwan, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said July 12.
A group of U.S. venture capital funds is suing the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, alleging that OFAC’s 50 percent rule is unconstitutional, court records show. The lawsuit says the rule -- which bans companies and people from dealing with entities owned 50 percent or more by a sanctioned party -- unlawfully prevented the plaintiffs from accessing their money, property and investments, violating unreasonable seizure and due process laws under the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution, respectively.
Plans to reorganize International Traffic in Arms Regulations are ongoing despite what has been a lengthy legal review of the draft rules, a Directorate of Defense Trade Controls official said while speaking July 9 at the Bureau of Industry and Security annual export controls conference. Through a "series of rules we are trying to make the content of the ITAR more linear and more discernable," said Rob Hart, regulatory and multilateral affairs division chief in the Office of Defense Trade Controls Policy.
The U.S. is working with Hong Kong to increase audits of imports and exports, said Kevin Kurland, director of Commerce’s Office of Enforcement Analysis, at the Bureau of Industry and Security annual export controls conference July 10. Kurland said the cooperation has led to a “record number of detentions” in the past year as both sides have more strictly enforced and audited export and import controls. “We’re working with them,” Kurland said, adding that Commerce wants to make sure “our systems are complementary.”