Sanctions

Draft legislation from Ted Cruz would require the administration to penalize a key financial cooperative if it doesn’t cut off Iranian banks.

Left unchecked, document says, the Islamic Republic will use whatever means it can to continue terror financing.

Iran’s Revolutionary Court functions primarily to prosecute Tehran’s ideological opponents.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

The Trump administration on Friday announced a new set of sanctions against 38 individuals and entities in Russia in response to a "consistent pattern of malign activities" by the Russian government.

On March 18, the popular leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will be reelected to another six-year term as president. This is both a plain statement of fact and a complete falsehood. In American political parlance, this statement can be taken literally, but not seriously.

The Trump administration made clear on Friday, with what it described as the largest set of sanctions against North Korea yet, that it will continue to isolate Pyongyang even as the South seeks to engage with the North.

President Donald Trump on Friday delivered a free-wheeling speech to CPAC, a campaign-style barnburner that went over well with the raucous crowd. And on his way out, he casually got around to the important stuff: major new sanctions on North Korea.

The Trump administration hit 30 Russian and Ukrainian entities with sanctions Friday in an effort to pressure the Kremlin over its role in the continued violence on Ukraine’s eastern border as well as its occupation of Crimea.

Diplomatic “talks” are often little more than that—gabfests—but Tuesday’s meeting in Vancouver signals a hard-headed determination to deal with the problem of North Korea. The talks, hosted by the U.S. and Canada, brought together 20 nations, primarily those that aided South Korea in the Korean War…

A top Trump White House official ripped Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist enabler” on Thursday and warned businesses against engaging with the freshly designated organization.

This piece has been updated with new information.

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, associate editor Ethan Epstein talks with host Eric Felten about all the things the Obama administration could have done, but didn't, to discourage North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

Sanctions hurt everybody. That’s the problem with imposing them on a reckless and brutal regime. Instead of pressuring the few in charge, you punish the people as a whole. Sometimes that’s necessary, but it’s never ideal.

Today on the Daily Standard podcast, associate editor Ethan Epstein talks with host Eric Felten about why the new UN sanctions against North Korea fail to impress.

A vote is expected Monday evening on a new round of U.N. sanctions against North Korea. Unfortunately, in a bid to win Russian and Chinese support for the resolution, the measures proposed by the United States have been watered down. Removed has been what would be one the most useful tools in…

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Tuesday that Iran would drop the nuclear deal “within hours” if the United States attempts to impose new sanctions on his country.

There’s not much more to add to what Anthony Scaramucci told the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza on Wednesday night. Shortly before publicly making a false accusation against Reince Priebus, the brand new White House communications director laid into Priebus, White House aide Steve Bannon, and many other…

On November 30, 2016, Syria watcher Tobias Schneider tweeted out pictures of an Iraqi Shia militiaman boarding an Iranian commercial airliner en route to Damascus. One selfie taken on the plane showed young men in military fatigues in the background. Another photo, likely taken when the militiaman…

President Trump announced Friday that the U.S. would strengthen economic and diplomatic sanctions on Cuba, undoing an Obama policy of more open relations with the Castro regime that Trump called "terrible and misguided."

The Senate voted Thursday to impose new sanctions against Russia for its efforts to disrupt last year's presidential election through cyberattacks against the Democratic party and state election rolls.

Two prominent Republican senators are exploring a variety of options to push through a Russia sanctions bill as soon as possible, after Senator Bob Corker said Monday that the sanctions are on hold for now.

The notices are in, and they're brutal. Donald Trump's nascent North Korea policy—announcing the end of "strategic patience" (Barack Obama's code for sitting around and doing nothing about the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons), leaning on China to rein in Pyongyang, strengthening sanctions, and…

Congress should as soon as possible consider a bill that slaps sanctions on Iran over its illicit non-nuclear activities, Democratic lawmakers who supported the 2015 Iran nuclear deal told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The United States might waver on Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia but Europe will not, the European Union's foreign policy chief said Friday, so long as a standing agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine is not fully implemented.

Sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Iran after the country conducted another ballistic missile launch are more symbolic than punitive, a former Obama administration Treasury Department official said Monday.

Top Republican lawmakers are praising the Trump administration for levying a crop of sanctions on Iran after the country conducted a ballistic missile test Sunday, hailing the move as the beginning of a tougher posture toward the Islamic Republic.

In a decision separate from the U.S. inquiries into Russian political interference during the 2016 presidential contest, Washington announced on Monday, January 9, that five prominent individuals inside Russia would be sanctioned. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added…

The Obama administration is set to announce expanded sanctions on Russia this week—perhaps as soon as Thursday, according to one report—in response to the country's tampering with this year's U.S. presidential election.

A 10-year extension of long-standing Iran sanctions will become law without President Obama's signature, in an apparent symbolic move after both chambers of Congress passed the package by a near-unanimous margin.

In the wake of Donald Trump's election, many colleges and universities vowed to become "sanctuary campuses" for students in the country illegally. The matter will take on a special urgency in the event that soon-to-be President Trump repeals the executive-ordered Deferred Action for Childhood…

Companies doing business with Iran risk U.S. sanctions unless they take heightened measures to avoid benefiting sanctioned entities like the Iranian military, according to a State Department statement provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. The warning contradicts remarks made by Secretary of State John…

Guidelines published last month by the Obama administration protect banks doing business with Iran from U.S. sanctions even if their transactions end up benefiting sanctioned entities, according to Secretary of State John Kerry. That stance, experts and congressional sources tell THE WEEKLY…

The United States will harshly retaliate against any bank or company caught doing business that involves sanctioned Iranian entities, despite a recent announcement from the Treasury Department that had been broadly interpreted as loosening American sanctions against previously prohibited…

The Obama administration won't provide Congress with a range of details about a recent announcement that cleared the way for doing business with Iran, including Iranian firms controlled by sanctioned military and terrorist groups, according to congressional sources and experts who spoke to THE…

The Obama administration gutted an international ballistic missile embargo on Iran as one of several concessions made when the Islamic Republic released four American prisoners in January, Iran experts tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD. This has triggered criticism that the administration misled Congress…

A top Russian diplomat criticized the U.S. for maintaining sanctions on Iran that he said hurt the country's economy in the wake of the nuclear deal, echoing complaints the Islamic Republic has made in recent months.

Democratic lawmakers are joining their Republican counterparts in expressing concern that a pending multi-billion dollar deal between Boeing and Iran will endanger American security. The estimated $17.6 billion agreement for dozens of planes would be the largest American business transaction with…

Almost from its very beginnings, the Obama Administration has seemed at a loss about how to respond to North Korea. In his inauguration speech, President Obama told "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent" that he would "extend a hand if you are willing…

Yeganeh Torbati of Reuters reports:

The latest salvo in a bizarre exchange of international sanctions has been fired. Russia has already taken its boycott of Western foodstuffs to theatrical extremes, bulldozing piles of cheese and destroying apples whose sole fault was their Polish origin. Now the government of Vladimir Putin seems…

President Obama claims, as Bill Kristol noted in his editorial in the latest issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, that no country in the world has expressed opposition to his deal with Iran, with the exception of Israel. But that's not accurate. Canada, the United States' biggest trading partner—and,…

Susan Rice, President Obama's national security advisor, said on CNN that at least some money that Iran will receive from the nuclear deal will be used by the regime to support terrorism. 

A UN panel says that the White House and other Western governments have neglected to report Iranian violations of the sanctions regime.

Even the Obama administration acknowledges that Iran is up to a lot of mischief in the Middle East. Tehran is engaged in a sectarian conflict from Lebanon to Syria and Iraq that has recently come to include Yemen as another active front. However, the White House continues to insist, against all…

For the last several days, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf has been at pains to explain why Iran is not violating the interim nuclear agreement, or Joint Plan of Action. For the last few days, the Obama administration has been pushing back against a New York Times article published Monday…

Bill Kristol, chairman of the Emergency Committee for Israel, has released a statement calling on senators to strengthen the Corker-Cardin Iran bill:

CBS News reports on another troubling foreign donation to the Clinton Foundation: 

In a preview of Barack Obama's interview with Vice, the president of the United States says he's "embarassed" Republicans sent a letter to Iran:

Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a portion of his AIPAC speech today to list the times when Israel has defied U.S. warnings to act in its self defense.

Last week, the Obama administration succeeded in pressuring Democrats to insist there not be a vote on the Senate floor in support of the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015 until after the March 24 deadline for negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear weapons program. Lacking the votes in the…

A rare statement released from the Mossad, which is meant to deny reports that say the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, favors not imposing additional sanctions on Iran:

At a hearing this morning on Capitol Hill, Democratic senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey blasted the Obama administration talking points on Iran:

In John Kerry's statement on President Obama's Cuba policy changes, the secretary of state doesn't simply suggest the policies in place for five and a half decades are outdated. He seems to be suggesting they were a failure from the start. And in doing so, he apparently misstates his own age at the…

Imagine for a moment that you are a Saudi, Emirati, Jordanian, or Israeli. Your main national security worry these days is Iran—Iran’s rise, its nuclear program, its troops fighting in Iraq and Syria, its growing influence from Yemen through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon.

It's heartening these days to see an outbreak of bipartisan seriousness, given how rare those instances have become. Herewith some excerpts from a statement delivered by Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the committee’s December 3 hearing on…

Foreign Policy reports that the U.S. believes Iran is cheating on U.N. nuclear sanctions. "The United States has privately accused Iran of going on an international shopping spree to acquire components for a heavy-water reactor that American officials have long feared could be used in the…

The Emergency Committee for Israel calls for Congress to "reimpost" Iran sanctions and to "limit the president's authority to waive sanctions."

The deadline for the Joint Plan of Action ended it seems without a final agreement between the P5+1 and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. It’s not yet clear what happens next.

How to explain America’s failure, after 20 years of efforts, to impose genuinely crippling sanctions on Iran? Start with the penchant of the executive branch—from Presidents Clinton to Obama—for excluding Congress from the process.

At the White House Wednesday for bilateral talks with President Obama, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather publicly reminded the president of how seriously Israel takes the threat of a nuclear Iran. President Obama spoke first at a joint press appearance, and said that he and the prime…

When nations start imposing sanctions and embargoes on each other, black markets and hoarding follow as light comes with dawn. Witness Cuban cigars, which never went away and became even more desirable, especially as a status item favored by international types who smoked them to demonstrate that…

Hillary Clinton will shortly release a memoir, Hard Choices, chronicling her tenure as secretary of state. If what she has to say in its pages resembles what she had to say from the stage at the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) annual Global Forum on May 14—where she claimed undue credit for…

In the Ukraine crisis, the weapons of choice for the Obama administration and NATO have been lots of stern talks followed up by exceedingly anemic sanctions.

Given the lack of foreign policy success with "red line" threats of military force, the Obama administration has apparently broadened the definition of "use of force" to include financial threats of red ink against Russia for recent actions in Ukraine. U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Matthew…

The administration is playing hardball with the Russians.  Among other tough measures, it has, as Peter Baker of the New York Times reports:

The situation in Ukraine worsens and Putin makes ever more menacing noises. 

Marco Rubio is pushing President Obama to strengthen Russian sanctions. “Russia’s efforts to foment unrest in eastern Ukraine are tantamount to another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Assertions from Moscow that Russia is not involved hold little credibility, particularly in the wake of its…

Secretary of State John Kerry believes that, 

The non-military measures taken against Russia for its actions in Crimea and against its threatened invasion of Ukraine has not, as yet, had any discernible military effect. Reuters reports that NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, "said on Tuesday he had seen no evidence that Russia is…

Josh Gelernter on how to sanction the Russians:

As William Maclean of Reuters reports, Iran has not let deals and agreements get in the way of its effort to build a bomb. He interviewed:

President Obama "has signed an Executive Order that authorizes sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for activities undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine," according to the White House. 

Vladimir Putin is aggressive, increasingly armed, and dangerous. Besides his recent attack against Ukraine, he invaded Georgia in 2008 and has been rearming since well before then.  Like his Communist and czarist predecessors, Putin seeks to expand Moscow’s control.  Russian military spending—for…

The economic news from Tehran is good—good, that is, if you are a state sponsor of terror moving toward a nuclear weapons program. If on the other hand you were hoping that sanctions might persuade the Iranians to cease and desist, the news is disastrous.

In a recently leaked private phone call, an EU foreign policy official, Helga Schmid, grumbled to the EU’s ambassador to Kiev that it was “very annoying” that the United States had criticized the EU for being “too soft” to impose sanctions on Ukraine. Criticism may be annoying, but EU softness is a…

Over at the Washington Free Beacon today, Adam Kredo’s report confirms what THE WEEKLY STANDARD has been reporting since the November meeting in Geneva where the P5+1 came to an interim agreement with Iran over its nuclear program: the sanctions relief that the Obama White House offered was…

In response to various media reports on the Iran sanctions bill, the chairman of the Emergency Committee for Israel, William Kristol, released this statement:

Foreign Minister Zarif of Iran said on CNN that the White House is getting the nuclear deal wrong -- and that they don't have to give up anything: 

Lest the American people be put off by the chortling, boasting, and provoking of the Obama administration's Iranian negotiating partner, the administration has tried to deflect domestic political pressure by putting out a statement "condemning" the wreath-laying by the Iranian foreign minister at…

President Obama yesterday uttered words about Iran we know come from the heart: “What we want to do is give diplomacy a chance, and give peace a chance.”

House majority leader Eric Cantor responds to the Iran deal:

The Iran nuclear deal is in place. And Senate majority leader Harry Reid is preventing the Senate from voting on Iran sanctions to be implemented in case the Iran deal fails. Reid is holding up the vote at the urging of President Obama.

A new ad slated to start airing this weekend targets Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for opposing Iran sanctions:

A clip today of spokesman Jay Carney defending the White House's accusation that some Democrats (and Republicans) want to go to war with Iran:

Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon reports:

The Emergency Committee for Israel released this statement following the White House's threat to veto a bi-partisan Iran sanctions bill, which was introduced today in the Senate:

A recent AP/GfK poll shows that a majority of Americans, 55 percent, disapprove of how Barack Obama is handling the Iran issue. There’s good reason for skepticism about Iranian intentions—after all, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif threatens that if the interim deal agreed to on November 24 in…

The Iranians are saying the nuclear deal means the beginning of the end of sanctions. At least that's what a foreign ministry spokeswoman told the Iranian press.

Last week’s interim agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear weapons program offers the regime sanctions relief even as U.S. lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, are demanding more and stricter sanctions. The White House counters that more sanctions will only narrow diplomatic…

Negotiations for an “interim” arrangement over Iran’s nuclear weapons program finally succeeded this past weekend, as Security Council foreign ministers (plus Germany) flew to Geneva to meet their Iranian counterpart.  After raising expectations of a deal by first convening on November 8-10, it…

A statement from a bipartisan group of senators pushing further sanctions on Iran:

It’s Congress’s fault if there’s a war with Iran, says the White House. Last week administration officials showed their frustration with lawmakers who seek to impose another round of sanctions on the Iranians. "It is important to understand that if pursuing a resolution diplomatically is disallowed…

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior editor Lee Smith on President Obama's puzzling new Iran strategy.

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on his recent advance editorial.

Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz, writing for the Washington Post:

Adam Kredo reports:

The momentum to restrict Iranian oil exports has stalled, and it is time for Congress to eschew a more gradualist approach and mandate zero oil exports with zero waivers. This, along with more concrete military pressure, could increase the otherwise slim chances for success in expected new talks…

The New York Times reports: 

Texas senator John Cornyn explains "The Case against Chuck Hagel":

New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat, said on ABC this morning that he is "concerned" about Chuck Hagel's views of Iran sanctions:

Democratic senator Ben Cardin invoked South African apartheid in attacking Chuck Hagel's opposition to Iran sanctions on MSNBC earlier today:

Last month, the Obama administration added seven new Iranian companies, because of proliferation concerns, to the ever-growing list of sanctioned Iranian entities. Yet, as important as this latest move is, one crucial category of Iranian entities is still missing from U.S. policy—companies owned or…

John Kerry, who will be nominated later today to be the next secretary of state, is the richest member of the U.S. Senate. His estimated net worth is, at minimum, $198.65 million, according to disclosure forms.

Germany appeared over the past several months to have finally fallen in line behind European Union efforts to stiffen economic sanctions against Iran. But in late October a group of German parliamentarians dealt a blow to the campaign to isolate Iran’s rulers. Bundestag Members Bijan Djir-Sarai of…

Based on last week’s debate, both President Obama and Governor Romney believe that squeezing the Iranians economically is the best way—and perhaps the only way—to end their nuclear-weapons program without resorting to a military strike. Of course, nobody knows if sanctions will actually work. But…

The European Union passed a new round of Iran sanctions on Monday, targeting the Islamic Republic’s vulnerable financial, shipping, and bank sectors.

Despite all evidence that sanctions are hurting Iran's economy, four rounds of nuclear talks failed to prove that Iran's regime is now more malleable to a compromise. Diplomacy will continue, but with Iranian proposals falling short of Western minimum requirements, it is time to ask whether…

Berlin

An agreement to curb Iran's development of nuclear weapons was not reached at the International Conference in Istanbul. The West came to the conference with no unified strategy or coherent goals because it seems confused about Iran's intentions and strategy. Few asked why Iranian leaders are…

On March 20, Armenian defense minister Seyran Ohanyan visited Washington, D.C. Talks focused on U.S. defense assistance to the small republic, and regional issues were also discussed, but there is no evidence that Ohanyan’s U.S. counterpart, Leon Panetta, raised the question of Armenia’s excessive…

The United Nations reports that over 9,000 have been killed in Syria during the anti-regime uprising that has been going on for the last year. So far, however, President Obama has taken a hands-off approach, relying exclusively on diplomacy and sanctions.

Ynetnews.com reports that British PM David Cameron says the UK won't support an Israeli strike of Iran's nuclear at this time:

President Obama, in a speech earlier this week at AIPAC, signaled a willingness to go back to finding a diplomatic solution with Iran. As Josh Rogin reports, a group of senators issued a joint statement for the president urging him not to back down from pressuring Iran, regardless of other measures…

President Obama’s speech this morning to the AIPAC Policy Conference put the best spin possible on his record, and he had a good story to tell. Military and intelligence cooperation is excellent, and American diplomatic support for an isolated Israel was repeatedly (though not always, as he…

The prospect of Iran achieving nuclear breakout capability is becoming more imminent. Reports this past weekend indicate that Iran has built the infrastructure needed for operating more efficient and advanced centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. The Iranian regime will be able to…

Even the Los Angeles Times notices that President Obama has gone soft on Iran:

In a letter to be released later today, a bipartisan group of 89 House members urge Barack Obama to fully implement Iranian sanctions Congress passed last year. In particular, the members of Congress want the president to implement the legislation, and not the president’s interpretation of the…

Los Angeles Times: "Ron Paul: Sanctions against Iran are 'acts of war'"

The Senate passed the Kirk-Menendez amendment last week—which would sanction the Central Bank of Iran and other financial institutions—by a startling 100-0 vote. The Obama administration opposed the legislation and is currently working to weaken the sanctions as the bill as now in conference. Josh…

Earlier this week, on Monday, the advocacy group USA*Engage sent a letter to each of the 100 Senate offices. The organization’s intention was clear: to prevent the U.S. from imposing economic sanctions on Iran.

In a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill today, New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez blasted the Obama administration for opposing stricter sanctions on Iran:

The attack on the British embassy in Tehran came just days after the Iranian “parliament” voted to expel the British ambassador, and therefore reeks of official complicity. The attack—complete with an invasion of the grounds, looting, and a brief hostage-taking—is an always useful reminder of the…

Berlin

The Washington Post has a hard-hitting editorial on the Obama administration's "half-measures" on Iran:

WEEKLY STANDARD contributors Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz write in today's Washington Post that as in the wake of Libya, President Obama appears to have grown more comfortable projecting American power. As such, "Syria will be his real test. The arguments for supporting Syrian protesters…

Josh Rogin reports that the Treasury Department has announced new sanctions of Syria:

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has compiled a report on "Syria's Energy Sector." As FDD's Mark Dubowitz writes in the Hill: "This week, members of Congress are waking up from a debt-ceiling hangover to consider a bipartisan energy sanctions bill that would exert peaceful pressure on…

Berlin—In separate efforts, Republican congressmen Mike Conaway and Peter King have confronted the world's third largest shipping company—the French-owned CMA CGM—for enabling Iranian arms to be smuggled aboard container ships. Some of the intended recipients of Iranian arms include the terrorist…

In today's Wall Street Journal Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz discuss a novel approach to sanctions on Iran:

Haaretz reports: 

After hundreds of deaths of protesters at the hands of Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria, the U.S. "will impose sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad for human rights abuses on Wednesday," Reuters reports. Although the report calls this a "dramatic escalation of US pressure on Damascus to…

As Iran continues to flout United Nations Security Council resolutions on nuclear proliferation, policy­makers in United States and Europe have come to view tough economic and financial sanctions as perhaps the last peaceful means of bringing the Islamic Republic into line. It’s true that…

Berlin

The Obama administration made the correct decision earlier this week to impose sanctions on Belarusneft, a subsidiary of the Belarusian petrochemical company Belneftekhim, for doing business with Iran. But it’s small beer – Belarusneft is hardly a major player in Iran’s energy industry. And this…

It got lost amid the remarkable dispatches from Egypt and the broader Middle East, but last week Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela revealed some big news about Hugo Chávez and Iran. Speaking to a House subcommittee on February 15, he said the U.S. government is investigating whether…

U.S. frustration with German chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, seems to have reached a breaking point this week. Germany’s recalcitrant position about shutting down Iran’s main financial conduit in Europe – the Hamburg-based European-Iranian Trade Bank (EIH) –…

Berlin

After enacting comprehensive energy sanctions on companies that do business with Iran, and encouraging 31 other countries to follow suit, last Thursday the United States announced penalties against only a single firm for violating them.

Berlin

Berlin