After its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on May 8th, the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) began adopting a number of sanctions against Iran. The majority of these include the re-imposition of actions in effect prior to the JCPOA.
On Monday, November 5th, the U.S. administration announced the broad list of sanctions targeting Iranian oil, banking, shipping, and other sectors. These initiatives affect more than 700 Iranian firms and individuals in what the Treasury Department has marked as the “largest single-day action targeting the Iranian regime”. These actions were undertaken to pressure Iran towards a renegotiation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that alleviated the previously denied and restricted party sanctions.
OFAC added more than 400 entries to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN), including over 200 individuals and vessels in Iran’s shipping and energy sectors. Two of the largest maritime companies targeted with renewed sanctions are the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and National Iranian Tanker Co. (NITC). Additionally, OFAC added many IRISL subsidiaries and related individuals, as well as over a hundred vessels, to the SDN list.
Under the newly imposed sanctions, the United States can seize assets under its jurisdiction that are owned by listed individuals and entities as well as forbidding commercial relations with those on the list. OFAC has stated that persons engaged in certain transactions with the entities designated may themselves be exposed to enforcement actions, designations or blocking sanctions.
However, on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did announce that as part of the re-imposed sanctions, eight important oil importers — China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Japan, and Taiwan — would receive 180-day exceptions, or waivers, letting them buy Iranian oil as long as they show reductions in the amounts. This, according to the administration, was done in order to prevent destabilizing the world market that relies heavily on Iranian oil.
How Descartes Can Help
Governments and agencies throughout the world frequently publish and update lists of entities and countries to whom certain exports are prohibited or restricted.
Companies must ensure that business is not transacted with prohibited or restricted companies, countries or persons. Criminal and civil penalties; including fines, imprisonment and the denial of export privileges; can be imposed on exporters, their intermediaries or agents that export, re-export, forward or transport goods to sanctioned, restricted parties or countries.
Descartes MK Denied Party ScreeningTM provides organizations with a solution that quickly and efficiently screens customers, suppliers, and trading partners against a comprehensive and up-to-date database of international restricted and denied party lists while offering comprehensive export compliance reviews.
Descartes MK DPS’s list offerings include:
- Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regs.
- Department of State Cuba Restricted List
- Army Most Wanted Fugitives
- Europe’s Most Wanted Fugitives
- Netherlands National Terrorism List
- Narcotics Rewards Program
- New Zealand Wanted to Arrest List
- Turkey’s Most Wanted Terrorist List
- United Kingdom Proscribed Terrorist Groups
- Financial Consumer Alert List Malaysia
- Food and Drug Administration Warning Letter
- Malaysia Countering Financing of Terrorism
- Monetary and Financial Code France
- U.S. Coast Guard List of Vessels Prohibited