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March 9, 2022 Treasury Targets Hezbollah’s West African Finance Network The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions last week on Ali Saade and Ibrahim Taher, two prominent Lebanese entrepreneurs based in the West African country of Guinea. According to Treasury, Saade... March 9, 2022 The New Nuclear Deal Would Allow Tehran to Access Up to $131 Billion of Its Foreign Assets The Biden administration is finalizing a deal that would provide the Islamic Republic with relief from U.S. sanctions in exchange for temporary and limited curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. When the administration... March 7, 2022 Time to Sanction Russia’s Alternative to SWIFT Per an agreement with Washington and other Western allies, the European Union last week prohibited the SWIFT financial messaging system from providing services to seven Russian banks sanctioned over Moscow’s... February 25, 2022 Erdogan Moves to Censor Western Media But not Russian Propaganda Turkey’s media regulator, RTUK, posted three official notifications on February 21 threatening to block Western broadcasters Deutsche Welle (DW), Euronews, and Voice of America (VOA), unless they obtain... February 25, 2022 Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine May Supercharge Nuclear Proliferation Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine violates the commitments Moscow reaffirmed in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, in which Russia pledged not to threaten or use... February 24, 2022 Senators Want More Out of SEC’s Proposed Rules on Cybersecurity A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this month, urging it to require publicly traded companies to disclose information about cybersecurity... February 23, 2022 Beijing’s Ukraine Balancing Act Reveals Exploitable Fissures in the Sino-Russian Partnership Over the weekend, Beijing distanced itself from Russian aggression against Ukraine, calling for the “sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all countries” to be “respected and safeguarded.”... February 17, 2022 Bipartisan Support Builds for Re-Designation of Iranian-Backed Houthis as a Terrorist Organization Seventeen members of Congress from both sides of the aisle sent a letter last week to President Joe Biden requesting that he re-designate Yemen’s Iranian-supported Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah,... February 14, 2022 Iran’s Cyber Operations Against Turkey Should Be a Wakeup Call for Erdogan As Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signals his intention to mend ties with Israel, Iranian state-sponsored hackers have been targeting government and private-sector entities across Turkey,... February 8, 2022 China, Russia, and Iran Hold Trilateral Naval Drill China and Russia, America’s increasingly aligned great power adversaries, teamed up with Iran last month to hold a trilateral naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean, which Tehran... February 4, 2022 Turkey a Step Closer to Suspension From the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted an interim resolution on Wednesday officially launching infringement proceedings against Turkey for Ankara’s refusal to release Turkish philanthropist... February 3, 2022 IAEA Makes Vital Push for Improved Safeguards The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is spearheading a campaign to improve the agency’s ability to detect potential nuclear weapons development by member states. This... January 31, 2022 Biden Administration Backs Levant Energy Deal That Violates Bipartisan Caesar Sanctions The Lebanese, Jordanian, and Syrian governments signed a deal last week to export surplus Jordanian electricity to Lebanon by routing it through Syria, potentially violating U.S. sanctions on the regime... January 28, 2022 Administration Urges Congress to Fund Semiconductor Production Amid New Data on Shortages A “major supply and demand mismatch” pervades the semiconductor industry, the Commerce Department concluded in a report released on Tuesday. Identifying specific supply chain bottlenecks as well as... January 27, 2022 Biden Greenlights South Korean Release of Funds to Politically Connected Iranian Firm The Treasury Department on January 6 issued a special license to authorize the South Korean government to pay $63 million that it owed to the Entekhab Group, an Iranian consumer electronics company. However,... January 25, 2022 Possible Netanyahu Plea Deal Could Shake Up Israeli Politics Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mulling a plea deal that would spare him prison time but likely bar him from politics for at least seven years. While still unlikely, such an agreement... January 21, 2022 Lawmakers Underscore the Importance of a Plan for Continuity of the Economy In two separate letters last month, members of Congress urged President Joe Biden to develop a strategy for creating and implementing a Continuity of the Economy (COTE) plan, which would aim to ensure the... January 20, 2022 Congress Delivers Bipartisan Warning to Biden on Syria Policy The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate committees on foreign relations sent a letter last week to President Joe Biden warning him that “[t]acit approval of formal diplomatic engagement... January 19, 2022 Halkbank’s Supreme Court Appeal Will Delay Iran Sanctions-Evasion Case A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that Halkbank, a public lender majority-owned by Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court without having to defend itself in a Manhattan... January 19, 2022 U.S. Treasury Designates Additional Targets in Hezbollah Financial Network The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Tuesday on three Hezbollah members and financial facilitators along with their Lebanon-based travel company.... January 12, 2022 It Is Time to Counter China’s Data Strategy The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) closed public feedback last month on a draft regulation to secure and manage data according to its importance to national security. While ostensibly a technical... January 10, 2022 Iran’s Inflation Rate in 2022 Will Depend on Fate of Nuclear Negotiations Iran’s annual inflation rate in 2021 was 43.4 percent, according to the Statistical Center of Iran, but President Ebrahim Raisi is determined to reduce inflation in 2022, since high inflation harms the... January 5, 2022 China’s Sharp Economic Slowdown Threatens to Constrain Xi in 2022 With 10 months until China’s 20th Party Congress, at which Xi Jinping will likely assume a once-unthinkable third term as general secretary, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is grappling with an economic... January 4, 2022 Erdogan’s Wealth Amnesty Offers Illicit-Finance Loophole for the Eighth Time Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree on December 31 extending the country’s wealth amnesty law. This decree, the eighth episode of wealth amnesties that Erdogan has declared since 2008,... December 20, 2021 EPA Misses Mark With Proposed Cybersecurity Standard Water sector groups raised concerns earlier this month with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the agency’s pursuit of a new cybersecurity requirement without prior consultation and collaboration... December 17, 2021 Raisi’s Contractionary Budget Implies No Definitive Resolution of the Nuclear Crisis in the Coming Months Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi sent his first annual budget bill to the Islamic Consultative Council, or Majles, on Sunday, providing important insight into his priorities for the next Persian year, April... December 17, 2021 Paraguayan Raids Further Expose U.S. Intermediaries’ Role in TBA Money Laundering Schemes Paraguayan authorities last week raided the offices of a dozen U.S.-linked companies and their accountants tied to suspected Paraguayan drug kingpin Reinaldo Javier Cabaña Santacruz, alias Cucho. Asunción’s... December 16, 2021 Biden Administration Targets Corruption in Ukraine’s Judiciary During last week’s Summit for Democracy, the Biden administration imposed sanctions against Oleksandr Tupytskyi, chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU), and Andriy Portnov, a top aide to... December 15, 2021 Macron Looks to Revive Saudi Financing for French Military Contracts in Lebanon After meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in Jeddah on December 4, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the Saudis would re-engage in Lebanese affairs “to help the people of Lebanon... December 13, 2021 Biden Administration Limits Itself to Symbolic Sanctions on Syria The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five Syrian military officers last week, including commanders with direct responsibility for the use of chemical weapons against civilians. While these five... December 9, 2021 Biden Administration Creates Potential Sanctions Loophole for Assad The Biden administration in late November lifted a longstanding rule that forbade non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from doing business with the regime of Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad, justifying the... December 6, 2021 Washington Seeks to Counter China’s Quantum Computing Drive The U.S. Department of Commerce last month sanctioned eight Chinese companies for supporting the efforts of the People’s Republic of China to develop quantum computing technology for military applications.... December 3, 2021 Turkey’s Council of Europe Voting Rights and Membership at Risk The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe announced today its decision to begin infringement procedures against Turkey for Ankara’s refusal to release Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala despite... December 3, 2021 U.S. and Europe Must Counter Potential Weapons-Grade Enrichment by Iran Israel has shared intelligence with the United States and other allies indicating the Islamic Republic of Iran plans to enrich uranium to 90 percent purity, the level necessary for nuclear weapons. This... December 1, 2021 China Seeks to Exploit Interpol Leadership Role to Hunt Dissidents Interpol’s General Assembly voted last week to elect a senior Chinese public security official, Hu Binchen, to serve on the international police organization’s 13-member Executive Committee. The election... November 17, 2021 Washington and Jerusalem Enhance Cooperation to Counter Ransomware The United States and Israel are forming a new cyber partnership to combat ransomware threats, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo announced on Sunday during a trip to the Jewish state. The initiative... November 12, 2021 Sudanese Military Looks to Play Russia Against the U.S. Speaking to Sputnik News last week in his first interview since his October 25 military putsch, Sudan’s top general, Abdul-Fattah al-Burhan, offered a qualified commitment to a previously suspended agreement... November 9, 2021 Turkish Airlines in EU Crosshairs for Facilitating Lukashenko’s “Hybrid Warfare” With Belarus Flights The European Union reportedly has Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s national flag carrier, in its crosshairs due to the airline’s alleged role in trafficking migrants to Belarus. If Brussels goes forward with... November 5, 2021 Turkish Streamers Colluded With Iran-Based Money Launderers: Amazon Subsidiary Twitch Should Take Action Twenty-four hundred Turkish streamers have reportedly helped launder nearly $10 million for Iran-based credit card theft schemes through the Amazon subsidiary Twitch, a live streaming service that leads... November 5, 2021 China Consolidates Rare Earth Supply Chain Peng Huagang, secretary general of China’ State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, confirmed last month that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will “promote the restructuring of... October 29, 2021 Russian Hackers Continue Targeting the Software Supply Chain The Russian state-sponsored hacker group responsible for last year’s massive SolarWinds breach has continued targeting managed service providers (MSPs) in an effort to piggyback into other victim networks,... October 18, 2021 U.S. Trade Representative Outlines Roadmap for China Trade Policy, But Provides Few Details U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai announced during a speech last week an initial roadmap for managing trade disputes with China. However, Tai’s address, which followed a lengthy internal... October 18, 2021 Turkey Threatens New Military Offensive in Northern Syria Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on October 11 that he has “no patience left” for attacks by Syrian Kurdish fighters targeting Turkey’s border towns and Turkish forces in northern Syria,... October 14, 2021 Western Governmental Funds Divest From West Bank While Investing in China In September, Norway’s Government Pension Fund became the third major Western governmental investment fund since March to divest from companies doing business in West Bank settlements. Participating in... October 14, 2021 Blinken Affirms Softening of U.S. Policy Toward Assad Regime Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday became the first Cabinet-level official to confirm that the United States will no longer stand in the way of Arab states pursuing the diplomatic rehabilitation... October 8, 2021 Florida Businessman Indicted in Nader Mohamad Farhat’s Money Laundering Case Florida’s Southern District Court in Miami indicted Florida businessman Elias Daher last week on money laundering charges, making him a co-defendant in the Mohamad Nader Farhat money laundering case.... October 7, 2021 Tehran Demands Access to $10 Billion of Frozen Iranian Assets as Reward for Negotiating Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Saturday that Washington should unfreeze $10 billion of Iranian assets as a goodwill gesture before Tehran resumes negotiations over compliance with... October 5, 2021 Lawsuit Alleges Ransomware Led to Baby’s Death in Hospital A ransomware attack in 2019 severely hindered an Alabama hospital’s ability to treat and ultimately save a baby born with a severe brain injury, according to a lawsuit first disclosed publicly by The... October 5, 2021 A Unified and Capable “Quad” Is Bad News for the CCP The Australian, Indian, Japanese, and American heads of state met at the White House last month for the first-ever in-person “Quad” Leaders’ Summit. Pictures of the four leaders standing shoulder-to-shoulder... October 5, 2021 White House Quiet as U.S. Allies Rehabilitate Assad. Congress Should Not Be. King Abdullah of Jordan spoke by phone on Sunday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the first public contact between the two leaders since the conflict in Syria began in 2011. Their call marks the culmination...

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