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.
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.
Lawmakers should press ahead with Iran sanctions bills despite pressure to put off new restrictions while American and Iranian officials hold nuclear talks, according to David Ibsen, executive director of United Against Nuclear Iran.
The country's third largest financial institution is asking the U.S. Treasury Department for licenses related to thousands of transactions involving Iranian-sanctioned banks in the Middle East and Latin America that it says were performed to comply with local laws in those regions.
The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating Middle Eastern currency exchange houses and trading companies purportedly helping Iranians evade sanctions, officials said Thursday.
New economic sanctions against Iran are expected to shine more daylight on foreign banks processing certain commodities payments or maintaining accounts for individuals and companies blacklisted by the United States.
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday approved legislation that would require the White House to identify interbank messengers serving Iran's financial sector and order companies to divulge their Iranian ties.
An American sanctions law passed in December is raising compliance concerns at banks involved in energy sector deals, despite U.S. waivers permitting related transactions, say attorneys and bank officials.
The United States exempted seven nations Monday from sanctions against Iran signed into law in December after the jurisdictions curbed their purchases of oil from the Persian country.
U.S. lawmakers will likely move to strengthen restrictions on correspondent accounts in the reconciled version of an Iran sanctions bill expected to pass the Senate by June, say congressional sources.
American sanctions enforcers will "primarily" focus in coming months on blacklisting Chinese firms that buy and resell defense industry or dual-use goods to Iran, a U.S. Justice Department official said Wednesday.
Proposals to bar Iranian financial institutions from a global interbank messaging service would impose additional costs on Iran's banks without entirely blocking them from accessing Western financial institutions.
An executive order signed Sunday to implement new banking sanctions against Iran doesnt clarify the extent to which U.S. financial institutions must peel back transactions to discover potential links to Iran.
The U.S. Treasury Department Monday sanctioned Iran's third largest bank hours after the European Union agreed to freeze the assets of the Middle Eastern nation's central bank.
The authors of a U.S. embargo against Iran's central bank and petroleum industry called on the White House Thursday to be strict with foreign financial institutions under the law's statutes.
U.S. and foreign banks are awaiting official guidance on how to adhere to a new American sanctions law against the Central Bank of Iran before implementing its screening procedures.
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday overwhelmingly approved bills that would restrict loans and interbank transfers of credit involving entities that facilitate Iran's petroleum and weapons trade.
U.S. senators Monday approved a reconciled defense appropriations bill that would sanction Iran's central bank, making only a single nod to White House concerns that the bill would displease trade partners.
The Obama Administration Thursday voiced opposition to a Senate plan to bar any foreign bank that knowingly conducts transactions with the Central Bank of Iran from the U.S. financial system.
The U.S. Treasury Department Monday proposed designating Iran as a "primary money laundering concern" and requiring banks to end correspondent relationships with foreign institutions that transact for Iranians.