The Council of the European Union on Jan. 29 imposed additional sanctions on Iran related to its "serious human rights violations" and continued military support of Russia. The council added 15 people and six entities to its Iran sanctions list, including Eskandar Momeni, Iran's minister of the interior and head of the National Security Council, and various members of Iran's judicial system, including Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, the prosecutor general, and Iman Afshari, a presiding judge. Other individuals include IRGC commanders and "high ranking officers of the police and the Law Enforcement Force." The listed entities include the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority, Seraj Cyberspace Organization, the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content and some software companies.
About 40 countries, including the U.S., met in Prague last week to discuss Iran sanctions implementation and enforcement, including the "full range of issues affecting" U.N. member states' abilities to implement U.N. sanctions against Iran, the State Department said. The symposium was an "opportunity to secure commitments from several attending countries that intend to receive country- and sector-specific technical security assistance from the United States to maximize the impact of sanctions on the Iranian regime." The department said the U.S. and its allies stressed the "urgent need to promote universal implementation" of U.N. sanctions against Iran.
Blank Rome said last week that it helped a client with his removal from the Office of Foreign Assets Control's Foreign Sanctions Evaders List. The client was designated in February 2019 "in connection with U.S. sanctions on Iran," the firm said, and his delisting "marks a significant milestone and concludes a multi‑year effort to restore his standing and remove related restrictions."
Exodus Movement, the U.S. cryptocurrency trading software company that agreed to pay more than $3 million to the Office of Foreign Assets Control this week to resolve allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions on Iran (see 2512160053), said it "acknowledges and regrets its prior compliance shortcomings during an early period in the firm’s lifetime." A spokesperson said in an email that the firm has "since taken stringent countermeasures and invested millions of dollars to ensure these lapses never happen again. Exodus has fully collaborated with OFAC throughout the investigation and are glad to put this matter firmly behind us."
The U.K. delisted two individuals and two entities from its Syria sanctions regime Dec. 17, though it said all four parties remain sanctioned under different restrictions regimes.
A group of Ukrainian nationals on Dec. 10 accused Intel, Texas Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Mouser Electronics of not doing enough to ensure the semiconductor parts they make don't end up in Russian or Iranian hands (Shumylo v. Texas Instruments, Tex. # 25-09714).
European Parliament members urged the EU last week to impose new sanctions on Tanzanian authorities for violence against protesters and on Iranian officials for the "systemic suppression and escalating persecution" of Iran’s Baha’i community.
The U.K. on Nov. 3 amended one entry under its Iran sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated the listing for Ali Aliakbar Ansari to add the name "Ali." Ansari was sanctioned for providing economic resources to the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said Oct. 30 that she intends to work with the Trump administration, including the State and Treasury departments, to ensure that the U.N. fully carries out plans to reimpose "snapback” sanctions on Iran.
Deutsche Bundesbank, the national central bank of Germany, recently published guidance to help customers and other operators comply with new snapback sanctions on Iran (see 2509290051). The bank stressed that all provisions of funds to sanctioned Iranian people or entities are blocked, and certain payments designed to send certain goods and technologies to Iran are "generally prohibited, such as certain goods, software and technologies that could contribute to Iran's military and technological strengthening," according to an unofficial translation. Other portions of the guidance outline potential exemptions, reporting requirements related to money transfers, and more.