Iran
In view of the continued concern over the expansion of Iran's nuclear and missiles programmes, more restrictive measures have been imposed by European and US legislators.
The Council of the European Union decided on 1 December 2011 to designate a further 180 entities and individuals to be subject to restrictive measures against Iran. The Council furthermore agreed that, given the seriousness of the situation, the EU should extend the scope of its restrictive measures against Iran. In particular, the Council agreed to broaden existing sanctions by examining, in close coordination with international partners, additional measures including measures aimed at severely affecting the Iranian financial system, measures in the transport sector and in the energy sector, as well as in other areas.
The Council announced adoption of these measures in the near future, presumable by the end of January 2012.
The US also imposed additional sanctions against Iran on 21 November 2011, significantly increasing the stringent sanction regime that was already in force.
These new US sanctions target Iran's gasoline supply. They prohibit any person or company, including foreign companies, from knowingly providing Iran with goods, services, technology or support that increases Iran's ability to develop petroleum sources in Iran if this has a value of USD 1,000,000 at any one time or an aggregate value of USD 5,000,000 in a 12-month period. Those monetary limits are lowered to USD 250,000 and USD 1,000,000 for items relating to Iran's domestic production of petrochemical products. Notably, sanctions can also be imposed on (foreign) successor entities as well as on (foreign) related entities that are owned or controlled by, or own or control, a sanctioned company, provided that these companies had actual knowledge or should have known of the activities. A number of sanctions are put in place to ensure that (foreign) persons or companies, acting in violation of the restrictions mentioned above, are effectively blocked from participating on the US market.
Syria
In view of the gravity of the situation in Syria, the Council of the European Union decided on 1 December 2011 to step up its sanctions against Syria. With the aim to isolate President Bashar al-Assad's government, the Council decided to put the names of a number of persons and several state-owned firms on the list of persons and entities whose funds and assets are frozen.
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