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On August 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced “Operation Economic Outcast,” a series of economic sanctions measures targeting Iran and persons that continue to maintain economic ties with Iran or facilitate the Iranian government’s access to financial resources despite already-robust U.S. primary and secondary sanctions. The measures expand the categories of Iran-related conduct that may expose non-U.S. persons to secondary sanctions and signal an increased U.S. enforcement focus on foreign parties continuing to do business with Iran.

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On August 28, 2026, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) published an interim final rule (IFR) easing export controls on certain survivability-enhanced aircraft under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). This action substantially relaxes ITAR controls on aircraft that have been modified to incorporate aircraft survivability equipment (ASE), and to exclude from ITAR authorization requirements certain reexports and temporary imports of ASE. This rule intends to both reduce unnecessary compliance burdens on international partners using secured ASE to protect dignitaries and commercial passengers, and remove the competitive disadvantage for U.S. manufacturers relative to foreign manufacturers whose products are not subject to ITAR jurisdiction.

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On August 13, 2026, the Administration took two significant and complementary actions reshaping the regulatory landscape for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to increase U.S. domestic production.

First, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule further easing export controls on certain UAVs and related hardware, technology and software under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This action substantially relaxes EAR controls on ordinary civilian and commercial drones, while retaining controls for military-designed systems, long-range missile-capable UAVs, drones incorporating sensitive equipment, and drones destined for prohibited end users or end uses. This will make it easier for U.S. UAVs to compete abroad and has the potential of lowering their costs to both the domestic and international markets by increasing sales opportunities.

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On August 13, 2026, the White House published a Proclamation imposing duties under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (“Section 232”) on imports of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their parts and components. Following the Commerce Department’s recommendation, the President unveiled a staggered system of tariffs to address the national security threat posed by U.S. reliance on foreign-sourced UAS, strengthen America’s UAS industry and supply chain, and bolster the domestic defense industrial base. The President further authorized the Secretary of Commerce to establish an onshoring incentive program for companies making new investments in manufacturing UAS and UAS components in the U.S. This action builds substantially on previous actions by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of War (DoW) regulating the use of foreign-produced UAS and UAS components in the United States (summarized here).

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On July 23, 2026, the Council of the European Union adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia and parallel measures concerning Belarus. Across the two asset-freeze regimes, the package added 48 individuals and 170 entities. Beyond the new listings, the package also amends Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 and the corresponding Belarus sectoral regime, introducing new transaction bans, trade controls and other restrictions. The new asset-freeze listings and amendments to Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 took effect on July 23, 2026, and many of the principal sectoral amendments took effect on July 24, 2026, although several measures have later application dates.

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Effective immediately, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been removed from Country Groups D:3 and D:4 and added to Country Group A:5. This new country group designation allows exports of items controlled for chemical, biological or missile technology reasons to qualify for license exceptions that were previously unavailable to the UAE under its former Country Group classification. In addition, the end-use restrictions in EAR 744.3—including restrictions applicable when an exporter knows an item will be used in the design, development, production, operation, installation (including on-site installation), maintenance, repair, overhaul, or refurbishing of rocket systems (including ballistic missiles, space launch vehicles and sounding rockets) or unmanned aerial vehicles capable of traveling at least 300 kilometers—no longer apply to exports to the UAE.

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On June 25, 2026, the UK published a new Open General Export Licence (“New OGEL”), permitting the export of a wide range of dual-use items to various low-risk destinations. The New OGEL consolidates existing open licensing routes for certain dual-use exports and adds coverage for several new destinations, reducing the need for individual license applications for eligible exports.

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Today, Regulation (EU) 2026/1386 (“FDI Regulation”), the EU’s new regulation revising the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) screening framework, was published in the Official Journal following its adoption by the Council of the EU earlier this month. The FDI Regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication, and will begin to apply 18 months thereafter, by which time Member States must ensure compliance with its requirements. The FDI Regulation will replace Regulation (EU) 2019/452, which has governed EU-level coordination of FDI reviews since 2020.

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On June 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Iran-related General License X (GL X), authorizing otherwise-prohibited transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the production, sale, delivery or offloading of crude oil, petrochemical products or petroleum products of Iranian origin. The authorization remains in effect through 12:01 a.m. EDT on August 21, 2026.

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On May 1, 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14404, “Imposing Sanctions on Those Responsible for Repression in Cuba and for Threats to United States National Security and Foreign Policy,” authorizing sanctions against persons determined to be operating in a variety of sectors of the Cuban economy, with significant impacts to non-U.S. financial institutions who process related transactions. In practical terms, the order gives the U.S. government a new designation authority for foreign persons connected to specified Cuba-related activity and creates a secondary sanctions risk for foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions involving persons blocked under the order.

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