The Bureau of Industry and Security announced a host of new export control actions aimed at further limiting Russia from sustaining its war effort against Ukraine, including additions to the Entity List, an expansion of the agency’s industry sector restrictions on both Russia and Belarus and new export controls against Iran to address its drone transfers to Russia. The measures, effective Feb. 24, add 86 new entities to the Entity List; place additional restrictions on commercial, industrial and luxury goods; impose new license requirements on “low-technology” items destined to Iran; create a new Iran Foreign Direct Product Rule, and more.
Iran Export Controls
Certain items on the Commerce Control List require a license from BIS to export them to Iran. The Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) (31 CFR Part 560) also prohibit the export and reexport of goods to Iran subject to EAR.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans are asking the Bureau of Industry and Security for information on its export enforcement and compliance efforts involving China, including steps to crack down on Chinese transfers of controlled U.S. technology to State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSTs). In a letter sent to BIS last week, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chair of the committee, said he is concerned China’s “economic and trade ties” with terrorism sponsors is “undermining U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.” He and Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., asked BIS to provide information on recent Chinese export violations, licensing procedures, end-use checks and more by March 2.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced two bills last week that could impose new sanctions and export controls against Iran. The Deterring Iranian Support for Russia in Ukraine and Pre-empting Terrorism Act (Disrupt Act) would require sanctions on Iranian entities that provide military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and would prevent the president from lifting sanctions on those entities unless Iran “ends its support” of Russia. The Sanctioning Transfers and Outbound Products to Iran Act (Stop Iran Act) would require the Commerce Department to increase export restrictions on Iranian entities that support terrorist activities and would better prevent U.S.-made products and components, including semiconductors, from being used to support Iranian terrorism, Lankford said.
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Kambiz Attar Kashani, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, was sentenced Feb. 9 to 30 months in prison for "conspiring to illegally export U.S. goods and technology to users in Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, in violation of the International Economic Powers Act," DOJ announced. The Central Bank of Iran has supported designated terrorist organizations, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to the U.S. government.
Last year was a “historically busy” period for new trade controls, and that pace “shows few signs of slowing” this year, Gibson Dunn said in a 2022 export control and sanctions recap released this week. The recap provides an overview of last year’s raft of new sanctions and export controls against Russia, China, Iran and others; the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new administrative enforcement policies (see 2206300069 and 2205230018); the State Department’s new compliance program guidelines (see 2212060015 and 2212210049); Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. actions; trade restrictions imposed by the EU and U.K.; and more.
The U.S. is making “good progress” on aligning export controls over sensitive technologies with allies, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said this week, adding that almost all the administration's recent discussions with trading partners have involved China technology issues. She also said the agency is working to counter a growing oil partnership between China and Iran, but said preventing China’s purchases has proven challenging.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted new guidance for its October rule that expanded certain China-related chip controls (see 2210070049) and hopes to release it soon, said Thea Kendler, the agency’s assistant secretary for export administration. Kendler, speaking during a virtual conference hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center last week, also touched on the rule’s expiring temporary general license and urged industry to submit feedback on the new restrictions before the deadline this week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week renewed its temporary denial order for a Venezuela-based cargo airline after saying it continues to try to violate U.S. export restrictions (see 2208030014). BIS said Empresa de Transporte Aereocargo del Sur, also known as Aerocargo del Sur Transportation or Emtrasur, has shown a “blatant disregard for U.S. export controls and the terms of a preexisting TDO.”
The EU added 18 people and 19 entities to its Iran sanctions regime in response to the violent crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman arrested by the morality police who died in custody, the European Council announced. The listed individuals include government representatives, parliament members, media figures and high-ranking members of the Iranian security forces. The sanctions on Iran now cover 164 individuals and 31 entities and amount to an asset freeze and travel ban for those on the list, along with trade sanctions and export controls.