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Several financial institutions in the European Union and Asia are "ring-fencing" their American employees and taking other preliminary steps to reengage with Iran months after economic sanctions were eased under a global nuclear accord.
The expected reemergence of Iran on global markets will likely pose the toughest challenge for sanctions compliance officers in the coming year, according to Alexandre Lamy, an attorney with Baker & McKenzie's International Trade Practice Group.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure Thursday that would give lawmakers a framework to review the Obama administration's sanctions-related nuclear agreement with Iran.
White House officials voiced opposition Wednesday to a Senate bill that would impose additional sanctions against Iran should negotiations to place limits on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program fail.
For the fourth time this year, U.S. officials blacklisted an Iranian national using a Caribbean passport while purportedly helping Iran circumvent sanctions.
U.S. lawmakers may soon have enough support to pass a veto-proof measure that would clear the way for sanctions against foreign banks that deal with blacklisted Iranian entities in foreign currencies.
American elections, EU court decisions and a potential wind-down of negotiations with Iran are complicating efforts by the United States and Europe to maintain uniformity in sanctions enforcement, say analysts.
European companies may be lining up at the gate to do business with Iran in the event of a sanctions rollback but don't expect the continent's banks to go rushing in anytime soon.
For the first time, U.S. officials have blacklisted a foreign financial institution using a July 2012 executive order that prohibits significant transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
As the Obama administration weighs punitive measures against Russia, part of its calculus will be the degree to which Russian officials can undermine U.S. national interests, including sanctions against Iran.
Nearly a month after the start of a 6-month abatement of Iran sanctions, U.S. officials have offered scant details on a promised financial stream for charitable donations to the country. In fact, say some humanitarian aid groups, nothing has changed at all.
Governmental documents published Monday cleared the way for foreign financial institutions to process limited transactions for Iranians but U.S. banks will be unlikely to relax their sanctions policies, according to experts.
As early as Monday, banks will be able to do what has become seemingly unthinkable in the sanctions compliance field during recent years: ramp up their ties to Iran.
Western financial institutions won't radically amend their sanctions controls in response to an agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for a relaxation of banking restrictions, say former officials.
