On 24 April 2017, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 271 persons working in the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center to be added to the agency’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons List. In its press release announcing the action, OFAC attributed the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research … Continue Reading
President Barack Obama will travel to Chicago on Tuesday, 10 January, to deliver his farewell address to the nation. U.S. businessman Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States on Friday, 20 January. Trump Transition News – Confirmation Hearings. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) has … Continue Reading
The U.S. Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday after a six-week recess. On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) issued a statement on the perceived lack of strong U.S. leadership, setting the stage for potentially-increased Republican oversight this fall: Just as we saw our allies in Europe dissing us over the … Continue Reading
The restrictive measures impose an asset freeze and travel ban on the listed individuals and entities and also ban exports of any apparatus with the potential to be used for internal repression or telecommunication monitoring. The EU’s sanctions relating to Iranian human rights concerns did not fall under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and so were not part … Continue Reading
Global Steel Crisis Examined. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker co-chaired a two-day hearing last week on the global steel crisis, where U.S. lawmakers called for a better way to prevent foreign suppliers from flooding the U.S. market with subsidized steel. While chairing the first day, Ambassador Froman stated that the … Continue Reading
