Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 11-15 in case you missed them.
The Treasury Department disputed a report that said South Korea obtained a “special license” to export humanitarian goods to Iran (see 2004170026), saying the country may be using an existing general license but did not receive an additional exemption. The Office of Foreign Assets Control “has not issued a ‘special license’ to the Koreans,” a Treasury spokesperson said. OFAC’s Iran sanctions regime contains “broad exemptions” for humanitarian exports, which may make some South Korean exports “permissible,” the spokesperson said.
The Trump administration should take more “diplomatic action” to renew the expiring United Nations arms embargo on Iran, U.S. lawmakers said in a dear colleague letter being circulated. Even though Iran continually violates UN bans on arms transfers, the ban is an “important means” to restrict weapons sales to Iran, the lawmakers said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The expiration of the arms embargo, which is set for October, could lead to more states buying and selling weapons to and from Iran, which could have “disastrous consequences” for U.S. national security. The lawmakers also urged Pompeo to “make clear” that U.S. sanctions on Iranian arms transfers will “remain in place and will be fully enforced.”
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended its Iran sanctions entries to reflect the European Union’s renewal of the sanctions until April 13, 2021, OFSI said in an April 9 notice. The renewal affects 82 entries under the U.K.’s human rights program for Iran (see 2004090024).
After current and former lawmakers asked the Treasury Department to clarify its stance on humanitarian exports to sanctioned countries, the agency pushed back on accusations that sanctions are stopping those exports, saying it does not target legitimate exported aid. Some of those accusations are marred by a misunderstanding of Treasury’s general licenses and exemptions, said sanctions lawyer Doug Jacobson: they do allow a broad range of humanitarian exports to countries like Iran.
The U.S. should expand the scope of humanitarian license exceptions for exports to Iran and add staffing within the Treasury Department to speed up the licensing process, members of the European Leadership Network and The Iran Project said April 6. The statement, signed by 25 former U.S. and European government officials, also said the U.S. needs to do more to assure companies, banks and organizations they will not be targeted for exporting humanitarian items to Iran. The letter follows similar calls by U.S. lawmakers, who said sanctions are hindering life-saving exports to Iran (see 2004010019).
The Trump administration should issue “broad licenses” to medical companies and create dedicated channels for industry to export medical goods to Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic, former Vice President Joe Biden said April 2. Although the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control already has broad general licenses that allow exemptions for humanitarian exports, Biden said they are not effective. “In practice, most governments and organizations are too concerned about running afoul of U.S. sanctions to offer assistance,” Biden said. “As a result, our sanctions are limiting Iran’s access to medical supplies and needed equipment.”
The State Department sanctioned Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, according to a March 17 news release. The agency also released identifying information on Ali Abdullah Ayoub (see 2003170042), the Syrian official sanctioned by the Treasury Department March 17. Ayoub was sanctioned for contributing to the country’s humanitarian crisis, the agency said.
There are “significant gaps” in private sector knowledge on North Korea and Iran sanctions compliance and implementation, according to a Feb. 6 report by the Royal United Services Institute and the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. The report, based on more than 350 responses to a survey sent to the finance industry, shows that large, international banks have a greater grasp of sanctions compliance than local and national banks, which are more often “being exploited” by proliferators. The report also said that U.S. banks are most vulnerable to proliferation risks from Iran and that “few banks” consult the United Nations Panel of Experts reports on North Korea.
An Iranian citizen who was head of a Dubai-based export company was sentenced to time served and fined $5,000 for illegally exporting gas turbine parts to Iran, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 30 press release. Mahin Mojtahedzadeh pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iran sanctions in July 2019 after using her company, ETCO-FZC, to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran (see 1907190040). Mojtahedzadeh, who has been held in custody since November 2018, will be transferred to immigration custody and be removed from the U.S., the Justice Department said.