The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two Iran-related frequently asked questions to address its Dec. 11 designations of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and E-Sail Shipping Limited (see 1912110024). In FAQ 810, OFAC said the two entities are also subject to prohibitions under the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations due to their designation by the State Department. In FAQ 811, OFAC specified that license exceptions for exports of food, medicine and other humanitarian items generally do not apply to parties sanctioned for weapons proliferation activities. U.S. exporters will not be able to ship “agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices” to IRISL and E-Sail, OFAC said. Exporters who ship those items “risk exposure to sanctions under additional authorities.” To avoid risks, U.S. exporters should make sure sales of those goods are completed no later than June 8, 2020, when the designations take effect, OFAC said.

A Hong Kong-based appliance maker said its subsidiary may have violated U.S. sanctions, according to its global offering released Dec. 9. JS Global Lifestyle Company said its subsidiary, U.S.-based SharkNinja Operating LLC, “engaged in a wire transfer” for a shipment on an Iran-flagged ship operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line, the company said. The transfer may be deemed a violation of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions regulations and the company may be subject to a civil monetary penalty. The company said it is “committed to ensuring our compliances with relevant economic sanctions laws” and preventing a future violation, but said it will not “always be able to do so, for factors beyond our control or otherwise.”

President Donald Trump will nominate Jessie Liu to be undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, a key sanctions role within the Treasury Department, the White House said Dec. 10. Liu is the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and previously served as deputy general counsel for Treasury and in the Justice Department’s National Security Division. The position was previously held by Sigal Mandelker, who resigned in October (see 1910020061).

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned an Iranian shipping network, its leader and three Mahan Air sales agents, Treasury said in a Dec. 11 press release. The shipping network illegally smuggled “lethal aid” from Iran to Yemen on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, Treasury said, and the three sales agents, based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, were targeted for working for a sanctioned Iranian airline.

The State Department sanctioned two former Paraguayan government officials due to “significant corruption,” the State Department said Dec. 10. The agency’s sanctions targeted former president of Paraguay’s judicial disciplinary board and senator Oscar Gonzalez Daher and former attorney general Javier Diaz Veron. Also sanctioned were Daher’s immediate family (Nelida Chaves de Gonzalez, Oscar Ruben Gonzalez Chaves and Maria Gonzalez Chaves) and Veron’s family (Maria Selva Morinigo, Yeruti Diaz Morinigo, Manuel Diaz Morinigo, Alejandro Diaz Morinigo and Veron’s minor child).

The State Department sanctioned Saudi and Chechen government officials for human rights violations, the agency said Dec. 10. The targets include Mohammed al Otaibi, former consul general of Saudi Arabia in Turkey, and Aslan Iraskhanov, head of the Ministry of Interior Affairs for the city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation.

The European Union maintained some sanctions and lifted certain sanctions from officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the EU Council said Dec. 9. The move includes lifting sanctions on two people on the DRC sanctions list: Roger Kibelisa and Lambert Mende, according to a Dec. 9 post on the European Sanctions blog.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 18 people and six entities under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for human rights violations, Treasury said in a Dec. 10 press release. The people are located in Burma, Pakistan, Libya, Slovakia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, and the six entities are all located in Slovakia.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two new Venezuela-related frequently asked questions concerning filing a lawsuit against sanctioned Venezuelan people or entities and conducting an auction for shares of a sanctioned Venezuelan entity, according to a Dec. 9 notice.

A U.S. insurance company was fined about $170,000 for violating the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Dec. 9 enforcement notice. Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Company (AGR US), a subsidiary of Germany-based Allianz SE, committed more than 6,000 violations of the CACR, OFAC said.