Biden Admin Reviewing New Sanctions Powers Against Iranian Oil, Official Says

The Biden administration is “reviewing closely” the requirements of new laws authorizing sanctions on Iranian oil and “will ensure the rigorous implementation of their provisions” as they take effect, a State Department official recently told a lawmaker.

Philip Laidlaw, principal deputy assistant secretary of State's Bureau of Legislative Affairs, made his comments in a letter sent to Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., last month and obtained by Export Compliance Daily Aug. 12. Lawler co-led an earlier letter urging the administration to “expeditiously implement” and “fully utilize” newly enacted authorities for sanctioning Iranian oil (see 2406200008).

The new authorities are included in the FY 2024 national security supplemental appropriations bill that President Joe Biden signed into law in April. They include the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act, which requires sanctions on foreign ports and refineries that knowingly process Iranian oil, and the Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act, which requires sanctions on Chinese financial institutions that process transactions involving Iranian oil (see 2404240043).

Besides addressing the new authorities, Laidlaw's letter outlines steps the administration has already taken to “counter the Iranian regime’s support for destabilizing activities throughout the region and beyond.” Under the administration, “we are vigorously enforcing existing sanctions and have imposed extensive new Iran-related designations,” Laidlaw wrote. “We have not lifted any sanctions on Iran.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, the administration has imposed over 300 counterterrorism-related sanctions on entities and people associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Iran’s proxies and partners, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, Laidlaw said. “These sanctions aim to disrupt Iran’s financial, logistical and operational support to terrorist organizations such as these groups,” he wrote.

The administration has also designated more than 220 people across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, “targeting individuals and entities that played a critical role in the production, sale and shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products,” Laidlaw said.

Some lawmakers have argued that the administration needs to do more to enforce Iran oil sanctions to curb Tehran’s ability to fund terrorism (see 2408060036, 2404260009 and 2402010058). A former State Department official said in February that the administration and Congress should wield a wide range of tools to choke off a recent surge in Iran’s oil exports (see 2402290026).