KPMG Lawyer Says US Planning to Increase Sanctions on Iran

The U.S. plans to increase sanctions on Iran by targeting certain foreign entities doing business with the country, potentially creating more compliance issues for American companies, according to Steven Brotherton, principal at KPMG. Speaking at a KPMG export controls information event, Brotherton said he was told in a recent meeting with an official from the Department of State’s Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions sector that the U.S. administration will be doing “a number of things to really ratchet up the sanctions on Iran.”

Brotherton said the U.S. will create more “secondary sanctions,” which include targeting certain foreign entities that may have no ties to the U.S. but who trade with Iran. This may increase compliance problems for U.S. companies, even those that no longer do business with Iran. “A lot of people here may think well, we’ve essentially ceased to do business with Iran, it's not such a big concern for us,” Brotherton said. But he said secondary sanctions may change that.

Brotherton also said the official suggested that U.S. companies voluntarily pull their business from companies that deal with Iran. The official said that “companies should look at what we're trying to achieve from a foreign policy perspective and really help us achieve our foreign policy,” Brotherton said. Several audience members laughed.

“Can you imagine going to a big company that you had a contract with and saying, ‘we’d love to sign this $150 million agreement with you, but that little bit of business with Iran -- sorry. We can’t sign this until you exit Iran,’” Brotherton said. “If that’s what they want companies to do, it has to be done through regulations.”