The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week announced its second round of Hamas-related sanctions after the terror group’s killings in Israel earlier this month, designating more Hamas-linked officials and financial networks. The agency sanctioned people helping Hamas evade sanctions, their companies and other entities with ties to the group.
The U.S. is planning more actions, including sanctions, to try to cut Hamas off from the global financial system after the terrorist group’s killings in Israel earlier this month, said Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. Nelson, speaking during a meeting of the multilateral Terrorist Financing Targeting Center this week in Saudi Arabia, said the U.S. has “much more work to do” to build on its initial response, which has so far included new designations (see 2310180003 and 2310160054) and a new advisory to provide banks with guidance on countering Hamas financing.
President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the White House said. Congo has been “marked by widespread violence and atrocities that continue to threaten regional stability” and pose an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy” of the U.S., the White House said. The emergency was renewed for one year from Oct. 27.
The U.N. Security Council recently renewed an arms embargo and certain sanctions against Haiti to help prevent the supply of weapons to the nation, the State Department said. The agency applauded the move, adding that the U.S. is using “new criminal authorities” to “hold firearms traffickers accountable,” including creating a Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit in Haiti to aid investigations and prosecutions of transnational crimes. The unit will focus on weapons and ammunition smuggling, human trafficking and transnational gang activity. “We will continue to use all available tools to promote accountability for corrupt actors, individuals supporting gang violence, and other criminal activity in Haiti,” the State Department said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed an authorization for certain Russia-related energy transactions. General License 8H, which replaced GL 8G, authorizes certain transactions with several Russian energy companies through 12:01 a.m. EDT May 1. The license was previously scheduled to expire Nov. 1.
The U.S., the EU and other allied governments need a common “Western Hemisphere approach” to sanctions and export controls, which would make complying with those regulations easier, said Andreas Giger, senior director of trade compliance at German manufacturer KION Group. He said companies are particularly in need of clearer trade rules that either place certain countries off limits or allow for a range of trade instead of complex licensing requirements that can lead to confusion.
The Biden administration needs more funding to support its efforts to counter Russia-related export control and sanctions evasion, the White House said in a request to Congress for supplemental FY 2024 funding. The funding request, which asks for more resources to support a range of “critical national security priorities,” calls for $100 million in additional funding for the State Department’s nonproliferation and anti-terrorism programs to support “export control, threat reduction, and countering weapons of mass destruction assistance that addresses Russia’s supply chains and sanctions evasion,” along with other national security initiatives. Another $210 million in additional funding for the State Department’s “diplomatic programs" would in part support “sustaining” sanctions and “export control efforts.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned two people and four entities for being a part of Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik’s “patronage network” and supporting his “ongoing corruption,” including by allowing him to siphon public funds to enrich himself and his family. OFAC said Dodik uses his position in the Serb Republic, one of two entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina, to “accumulate personal wealth through graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption.”
U.N. sanctions on Iranian missile-related activities expired Oct. 18, as part of a sunset clause included in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which had lifted certain sanctions against Iran in return for the country placing limits on its nuclear program. The sunset in the nuclear deal “was based on the assumption that Iran would take the necessary steps towards restoring confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program,” the State Department said. “This has not happened.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned various Hamas members, operatives and financial facilitators in an effort to “root out” the terror group’s revenue sources in the West Bank, Gaza and throughout the region. OFAC said the designations build on the nearly 1,000 people and entities already sanctioned by the agency and who are connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its “proxies.”