The Office of Foreign Assets Controls is seeking comments on the effectiveness of its licensing procedures for exporting agricultural goods, medicine and medical devices to Sudan and Iran from Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2018, OFAC said Aug. 31. The information gathered by OFAC will be used as part of its biennial report to Congress on its licenses procedures for such exports, and the agency asked commenters to be “as specific as possible.” Comments are due Oct. 1.
China could be an important economic and diplomatic lifeline for the Taliban as the group takes over the Afghan government and faces a range of sanctions (see 2108260055), the German Marshall Fund said Aug. 27. Beijing has power to sway decisions by the United Nations Security Council and is “more comfortable threatening its veto” on UNSC sanctions and embargo issues, which could give it leverage over the Taliban, the GMF said in a post written by China experts Bonnie Glaser and Andrew Small. “In a context where the Taliban know they will not receive real economic backing from the West -- at least not without conditions they will find unacceptable -- China is one of the few places they can turn.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is alerting users of its website and sanctions list data files of upcoming technical changes. The agency is beginning its annual renewal of the public certificate for its website, including its sanctions list downloads, and said its existing certificate will be replaced Sept. 1 at 9 p.m. The process will take about three to six hours, OFAC said. Users may need to update their configuration to trust the renewed certificate “if your application pins or otherwise trusts the serial number of the existing certificate as part [of] your application functionality,” OFAC said. OFAC said all applications should trust the new certificate by Sept. 1 to “prevent loss in functionality.” The notice includes a link to the new certificate and renewing instructions.
Although it prefers multilateralism, the Biden administration will likely continue to use secondary sanctions when coordination with allies isn’t possible, the Center for a New American Security said Aug. 26. But the think tank said the strategy may present challenges, especially with the rise of new blocking statutes designed to counteract the effects of extraterritorial sanctions. While the European Union’s blocking statute “has not been effective” because of enforcement and implementation issues (see 2108020030), CNAS pointed to China’s recently introduced blocking regulations, which could present compliance challenges for multinational companies (see 2107080057 and 2108040031). Russia has also drafted its own rules to penalize firms that comply with U.S. sanctions, although they haven't been enacted, CNAS said.
Although the U.S. should continue to impose severe sanctions against the Taliban, some collaboration with Afghanistan and other adversaries in the Middle East may be required to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghan citizens, experts said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control extended a general license that authorizes U.S. academic institutions to exports certain “online educational services” and software to Iran, the agency said Aug. 24. General License M-1, which replaces General License M (see 2010290043), was extended through 12:01 a.m. EDT Sept. 1, 2022. The original license was scheduled to expire Sept. 1, 2021.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 24 sanctioned three Paraguayan people and five companies for corruption. The sanctions target Kassem Mohamad Hijazi for controlling a money laundering organization and Khalil Ahmad Hijazi and Liz Paola Doldan Gonzalez for working with Kassem Mohamad Hijazi. OFAC also designated the companies Espana Informatica S.A., Mobile Zone International Import-Export S.R.L., Apolo Informatica S.A., Emprendimientos Inmobiliarios Misiones S.A., and Mundo Informatico Paraguay S.A.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi asked Japan to release $3 billion worth of Iranian funds that are frozen in Japan because of U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported Aug. 22. Raisi recently asked Japan’s foreign minister to release the funds, which were generated from gas export sales but are frozen due to expansive U.S. sanctions on Iran’s banking and energy sectors, the report said. “The improvement of ties with Japan is of great importance for Iran. ... Any delay in unblocking Iranian assets in Japanese banks is not justified,” Raisi told Japan’s foreign minister, according to the report.
A former top U.S. national security official argued for a more cautious approach to U.S. sanctions policy, saying the administration should seriously assess whether sanctions will work before making them a default foreign policy tool. Although “sanctions can work” when they impose consequential political or economic costs, many U.S. sanctions today don’t have as strong of a purpose, Gregory Treverton, chairman of the National Intelligence Council from 2014 to 2017, said in an Aug. 15 opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times. When the U.S. “targets individual Russians or Chinese or Iranians, it is almost always a symbolic gesture, like indicting foreigners who will never be extradited,” Treverton said. “Symbols matter but concrete results are better.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 23 announced sanctions against a high-level Eritrean military official for his role in human rights abuses committed during the ongoing conflict in Tigray. Gen. Filipos Woldeyohannes, chief of staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces, was added to the Specially Designated Nationals list on the same date. Filipos was designated under the Magnitsky Act “for being a leader or official of an entity that is engaged in serious human rights abuse,” the OFAC release said.