IRAN
The US is continuing to prevent the Iranian regime from using the country’s natural resources to fund terror and support oppression. The Departments of State, Treasury, and Justice have taken actions to constrain the regime’s oil and petrochemical sales. The US is filing of a complaint to seek the forfeiture of two shipments of Iranian missiles the U.S. Navy seized in transit from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to militant groups in Yemen, as well as the sale of approximately 1.1 million barrels of Iranian petroleum the US previously took custody of from four foreign-flagged oil tankers bound for Venezuela. These actions represent the government’s largest-ever forfeiture actions for fuel and weapons shipments from Iran.
CHINA
On Thursday, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo strongly condemned the arrest and detention of three student democracy activists and calls on Hong Kong authorities to release those that remain detained immediately. The Beijing-controlled Hong Kong government continues to stifle dissent, repress public opinion, and use law enforcement for political purposes, according the US Government.
In a written statement Pompeo said: “The People’s Republic of China has violated its international obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, while the Chinese Communist Party and its Hong Kong proxies crush the promised autonomy of Hong Kong, and eviscerate Hong Kong’s respect for human rights, including the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong.”
INDIA
Secretary Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper were in India for the third annual US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue this week. The two nations welcomed the elevation of the U.S.-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is vital to security and stability in the region and the world.
Pompeo reaffirmed the increasingly close U.S.-India relationship and the shared goals among like-minded Indo-Pacific countries for regional security and prosperity and welcomed the elevation of the US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. Talks also included ways to advance the 21st century defense partnership and expand information-sharing, defense trade, joint service coordination, and interoperability between the two.
ESTONIA
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CUBA
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action to remove Cuba’s military from the process of sending remittances to Cuba. Once these changes to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) are effective, persons subject to US jurisdiction will no longer be authorized to process remittances to or from Cuba involving any entity or sub-entity on the State Department’s Cuba Restricted List. These changes provide for a 30-day period before they are effective in order to allow for technical implementation.
According to the State Department, remittances to Cuba can still flow, but they will not flow through the hands of the Cuban military, which uses those funds to oppress the Cuban people and to fund Cuba’s interference in Venezuela. “The United States supports the principle that Cubans should be able to prosper and support their families without the Cuban military utilizing their hard currency earnings as it wishes. The Cuban government and military have created a system that seizes hard currency through military-operated financial mechanisms, such as FINCIMEX and AIS, and takes a cut from the remittances ordinary Cubans receive from abroad, including from the United States,” according to the State Department. It is the only country in the hemisphere where the military takes a cut of remittances. The Cuban regime forces ordinary Cubans to use the remittances they have remaining to buy goods at marked-up prices from government-controlled stores.
SUDAN
The US is sending $81 million in humanitarian assistance to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. It includes more than $64 million from the Agency for International Development and $17 million from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. The Statement says its total humanitarian response for vulnerable people, including those affected by recent flooding as well as refugees and those displaced by conflict in Darfur, South Sudan, and elsewhere in the region to more than $436 million in Fiscal Year 2020, including for the COVID-19 humanitarian response.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.
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