The State Department is offering up to $15 million for information leading to the “disruption of financial mechanisms” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including mechanisms used by Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, an Iranian businessman who helps procure technology and parts for Iran’s weapons programs, the agency said this week. Ardakani, who was charged in December with export control violations (see 2312190069), uses a network of companies in Malaysia, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates to buy items from the U.S. and other countries and ship them to Iran, the State Department said. The agency said U.S. aviation parts bought by Ardakani’s network have been found in destroyed Iranian drones on Ukraine battlefields.
A Federal Maritime Commission hearing on the current conditions in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden will be held Feb. 7 and, if necessary, continue Feb. 8, according to a Federal Register notice. Those who want to testify or submit written testimony must email the FMC secretary before Jan. 31 at 5 p.m. EST, the notice said. The hearing, beginning at 10 a.m., will be held at the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C.
The Defense Department’s new National Defense Industrial Strategy doesn't advocate for broad acquisition reform or significant new legislation, but it does show DOD plans to use existing authorities for several acquisition-related initiatives, including improving the Foreign Military Sales program, Wiley Rein said Jan. 19.
The Aerospace Industries Association has released a five-page summary of major provisions in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that deal with the Australia, U.K. and U.S. (AUKUS) security partnership and the Foreign Military Sales program.
U.S. and Chinese officials met in Beijing last week for the third meeting of the two countries’ Financial Working Group, where they discussed “financial stability” and international financial institutions, including anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism controls. “U.S. officials also frankly raised areas of disagreement during the conversations,” the Treasury Department said in a readout of the meeting. Both sides agreed to continue meeting regularly, and Treasury said Secretary Janet Yellen "looks forward to a return visit to China at the appropriate time.”
The U.S. government’s enforcement actions last year show that it’s “very apparent” that export controls are a “major priority” for the Biden administration, and that will continue this year, risk intelligence firm Sayari said this month.
The State Department approved a potential $75 million military sale to Kosovo, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Jan. 11. The sale includes Javelin missiles and related equipment, and the prime contractor will be the Javelin Joint Venture between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missiles and Defense.
The Pentagon should improve its end-use monitoring of defense exports to Ukraine, the Defense Department's inspector general said in a new report this month.
The State Department recently approved three potential military sales worth more than $550 million combined, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is extending the public comment period for an information collection involving import and end-use certificates, its delivery verification procedures and its firearms entry clearance requirements. The certificates are obtained by the foreign importer and transmitted to the U.S. exporter, BIS said, and the delivery verification certificate, which the agency requires as part of its export control program, must be completed by the ultimate consignee when the goods are delivered. BIS said the firearms entry clearance requirements are “necessary” due to the 2020 shift in export control jurisdiction of certain defense items from the State Department to the Commerce Department (see 2001170030). BIS is allowing for another 30 days of comments from after the notice is published on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website.