Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, led a bill June 12 that would repeal a 2019 law that sanctioned Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime for war crimes.
David Peters, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement (see 2504300061), said June 12 that he would “aggressively” enforce U.S. export controls to ensure sensitive American technology doesn’t end up in the hands of adversaries.
Australia's Sanctions Office this month issued new and updated "guidance notes" about various sanctions laws, including information about compliance obligations for Australian people and entities. The new documents cover sanctions involving advanced technologies, the financial sector, employment, the ocean shipping industry, Russia-related restrictions, and more.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation last week removed Hajjaj Bin Fahd Al Ajmi from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. He was sanctioned for his ties to Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, a group linked to terrorism. The U.N. Security Council also delisted Ajmi (see 2506100014).
The U.K. on June 13 removed one entry from its Russia sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation delisted Aleksey Leonidovich Fisun, a member of the Supervisory Board Sovcombank, from the Russia restrictions.
The Council of the European Union last week sanctioned three people and one entity for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Guatemala. The designations target the Foundation Against Terrorism, its president, Ricardo Rafael Mendez Ruiz Valdes, and its legal representative, Raul Amilcar Falla Ovalle, for their involvement in the persecution and intimidation of the media, lawyers, judges and prosecutors. The council said the newly sanctioned have begun criminal investigations against "justice operators, journalists and representatives of the government, and engaged in the intimidation of civil society and the judiciary."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Iraq national Nasr Mohsen Ali Huthele and Kata'ib al-Imam Ali, an Iraqi paramilitary organization, for counterterrorism reasons. The agency didn't release more information by our press time.
The State Department last week criticized a decision by several close U.S. allies to sanction Israeli cabinet members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank (see 2506100013). The sanctions, imposed by Australia, the U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Norway, don't "advance U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war" between Israel and Hamas, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
The U.S. appears to have departed from its long-standing policy of keeping national security-related export controls off the negotiating table during trade talks with China last week, said Brad Setser, senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Treasury Department official.
The Bureau of Industry and Security should consider working with companies to help them carry out extra due diligence for certain chip exports and should introduce a notification requirement for exports of advanced AI chips, researchers said in a new report last week. Those and other recommendations could help BIS better prevent illegal chip smuggling, they said.