economic sanctions news stories on Newser

Amid Sanctions, Iranians Expect War

Kevin Spak — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:29:57 CST

Western officials are fairly sanguine that Iran's recent provocations are only posturing. But on the streets of Tehran, sanctions are taking a real toll, and the populace expects violence, the Washington Post reports. The country is in the midst of a currency crisis that has made prices shoot up on...

EU Readies Iran Oil Ban

Polly Davis Doig — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:14:17 CST

Europe is continuing to get serious about Iran's nuclear ambitions, with EU member states agreeing in principle to ban the import of Iranian crude oil, reports the BBC . And while nuances must be hammered out—including whether and how long to exempt existing oil contracts with Iran, as well as...

US Sanctions Batter Iran's Currency

Rob Quinn — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:53:05 CST

The latest US sanctions against Iran have left Iranians scrambling for American dollars. President Obama has signed a bill placing Iran's central bank under sanctions, a move that sent Iran's currency tumbling 12% to a record low against the dollar. The rial has now lost 35% of its value since...

US Sanctions Syria's Assad

Kevin Spak — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:27:05 CDT

The US has taken the dramatic step of personally sanctioning Syria’s president and a number of his top aides, in an attempt to pressure him to stop his ongoing violent crackdown on dissent. The Treasury Department will freeze all of Bashar al-Assad’s assets that are within US jurisdiction, and bar...

US to Freeze Syrian Assets, Impose Sanctions

Kevin Spak — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:48:46 CDT

With the bloodshed mounting in the streets of Daraa , the Obama administration is preparing sanctions against Syria, including freezing the assets of top Syrian officials, the LA Times reports. That may not have a ton of impact, since Syrian officials don’t own all that many US assets to begin with,...

Freeze Gadhafi's Assets? It's Tough With Name Like That

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:26:05 CDT

It's hard for an international bank to freeze Moammar Gadhafi's assets when no one's quite sure how to spell his name. The US Treasury Department offers up 12 different options, but language experts say there are actually more than 100 variations for "Gadhafi" alone. It's just one example of a...

Allies to Hand Gadhafi's Assets to Rebels

Kevin Spak — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:06:35 CDT

Moammar Gadhafi’s frozen assets will be lining the pockets of his rebel enemies, under an agreement struck yesterday by NATO, Arab, and African officials at a closed door meeting in Qatar, the New York Times reports. The agreement comes even as divisions arose about how far to take their military...

UN Human Rights Body May Kick Libya Out

Mark Russell — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:17:05 CST

The United States will support efforts to expel Libya from the 47-member UN Human Rights committee, in what would be an unprecedented suspension of one of its own members. "The crackdown in Libya of peaceful demonstrations is escalating alarmingly with reported mass killings, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of protesters,...

Gbagbo Strong-Arms Banks, Cocoa Farmers for Cash

Kevin Spak — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:21:40 CST

Determined to stay in power despite the international sanctions pressing down on him, Laurent Gbagbo is pressuring banks to continue lending to him, and cocoa farmers to pay their export taxes in advance. “He’s looking for $90 million, from here to the end of the month,” said one cocoa businessman....