The US Commerce Department on Thursday blacklisted three companies for attempting to provide support to Iran’s advanced conventional weapons and missile programmes via exports through China.
The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security added the three companies to its entity list for China ties and "actions contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States".
The updated list, published in the Federal Register, noted that “these companies have supplied or attempted to supply US-origin items that could provide material support to Iran’s advanced conventional weapons and missile programmes to entities” sanctioned by the US.
The three blacklisted companies are Wavelet Electronics, Comtel Technology Limited and HSJ Electronics.
Their inclusion on the list prevents them from exporting, re-exporting or conducting in-country equipment transfers.
In addition, the Commerce Department blacklisted a network of eight other companies providing material support to Iran’s defence industry with exports through China, Malaysia, Turkey and Georgia.
The companies in that network include Hong Kong Cheung Wah Electronics Technology Company Limited, Hyper Systems Union Limited, Shenzhen Rion Technology, Thundsea Electric Limited, Genesis Engineering, Integrated Scientific Microwave Technology and SAEROS Safety ERO Company.
The blacklisting comes amid a broader tranche of Commerce Department sanctions over the export of biotechnology to China reportedly “for military applications and human rights abuses".
“We cannot allow US commodities, technologies and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation be diverted towards uses contrary to US national security,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
“The US will continue to stand strong against efforts by [China] and Iran to turn tools that can help humanity prosper into implements that threaten global security and stability.”
China, a signatory to the Iran nuclear deal, called on the United States to lift sanctions on Tehran that violate the agreement last month when indirect talks resumed in Vienna to revive the accord, which remains on life support.
Since the seventh round of indirect talks began in Vienna in November, the United States and Iran have remained at an impasse over disagreements regarding what sanctions Washington must lift and what nuclear activities Tehran must scale back in order to come back into compliance with the agreement.
Iran began steadily ratcheting up its violations of the 2015 accord following former president Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, which came with the reinstatement of crippling US sectoral sanctions on the Iranian economy.
Since then, Iran's breakout time needed to produce a nuclear weapon has decreased from a year to a few months, a senior US official has said.
The Joe Biden administration also sanctioned dozens of Iranian officials and entities for “serious” human rights abuses earlier this month.
The sanctions target Iranian officials, organisations and prisons that have cracked down on protesters and activists.
A teachers’ protest in Iran turned violent earlier this week when authorities arrested demonstrators while arresting Rasoul Badaghi, a teachers’ union activist.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday Sassuolo v Torino (Kick-off 10.45pm UAE)
Saturday Atalanta v Sampdoria (5pm),
Genoa v Inter Milan (8pm),
Lazio v Bologna (10.45pm)
Sunday Cagliari v Crotone (3.30pm)
Benevento v Napoli (6pm)
Parma v Spezia (6pm)
Fiorentina v Udinese (9pm)
Juventus v Hellas Verona (11.45pm)
Monday AC Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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3.
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
