The Trump administration imposed the sanctions after accusing Albanese of “biased and malicious activities” and “lawfare,” including recommending that the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
“It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions – they are nothing more than her opinion,” Leon said in his decision.
(May 15, 2026)
Judge Leon made preliminary findings that President Donald Trump’s administration likely violated Albanese’s right to free speech by imposing sanctions against her. In his 26-page decision, he discussed the applicability of the First Amendment to Albanese, including an extensive discussion of the significance of free expression. He wrote:
Albanese has done nothing more than speak! It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions–they are nothing more than her opinion… Finally, protecting the freedom of speech is “always” in the public interest… Indeed, the “proudest boast” of our First Amendment is that it protects the freedom to express even “the thought that we hate.” Enough said.
(May 13, 2026)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, last July under an executive order President Donald Trump signed authorizing such actions against people “directly engaged” in the International Criminal Court’s investigations related to alleged atrocities in Gaza.
However, in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the administration’s sanctions against Albanese violate the First Amendment because they’re based solely on her encouraging the ICC to investigate and prosecute.
It also says a high civilian death toll in Lebanon suggests Israel is violating international law. Israel says the campaign is targeting Hezbollah.
“While Canada recognizes Israel’s legitimate security concerns regarding Hezbollah, the razing of entire towns and the high civilian death toll is a serious violation of international law,” reads the letter, which was signed by 190 former diplomats who held high-ranking positions.
It follows on a similar letter issued last July that demanded Canada halt all arms trade with Israel.
(August 7, 2021)
Because they want to.
(May 7, 2026)
A new directive, issued through China’s Commerce Ministry Sunday, invokes a 2021 „blocking statute“ that prohibits firms from complying with foreign sanctions deemed illegitimate.
In einem der bedeutendsten Schritte gegen die US-Wirtschaftskriegführung hat das chinesische Handelsministerium seine Unternehmen offiziell angewiesen, die US-Sanktionen gegen iranisches Öl nicht anzuerkennen, nicht durchzusetzen und nicht zu befolgen. Es handelt sich um die erste Aktivierung der 2021 erlassenen „Blocking Rules“ (Regeln zur Abwehr ungerechtfertigter extraterritorialer Anwendung ausländischer Gesetze).
(May 8, 2026)
As some of you might already know, my name is Hüseyin Doğru. I am a German citizen, a father of three, a journalist, and the founder of red., a now defunct English-language media outlet.
On 20 May 2025, I was placed on an EU sanctions list.
Not after a criminal conviction. Not after a trial. Not after a court had examined evidence against me.
I was placed on a list.
The reason given was not violence. It was not incitement. It was not a finding by any court. The reason was political: my journalism, my reporting on Gaza, and my coverage of Palestine solidarity protests in Germany were folded into the language of Russia, destabilisation, information manipulation and hybrid threats.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the European Union on Monday after the bloc imposed sanctions on some Israeli settler organisations over violence against Palestinians.
„As Israel and the U.S. are ‚doing Europe‘s dirty work‘ by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists,“ Netanyahu‘s office said on its official X account.
Alle haben eines gemeinsam: Sie berichten außerhalb des NATO-/EU-Narrativs – sei es zur Ukraine, zu Gaza oder zur Energiepolitik.
Die Folgen für die Betroffenen sind existentiell: Konten werden eingefroren, Zahlungen blockiert, Reisen innerhalb der EU unmöglich gemacht. Sogar Familienangehörige (wie die nicht sanktionierte Ehefrau von Hüseyin Doğru) werden mit „Sanktionsumgehung“ bedroht. Doğru beschreibt seinen Zustand treffend: „On an existential level, you’re reduced to zero.“ Ein Vater von fünf Kindern kann nicht einmal mehr Windeln oder Medikamente kaufen, ohne dass Helfer Gefahr laufen, selbst strafrechtlich verfolgt zu werden.
(June 11, 2025)
Many radiopharmaceuticals, especially those used in PET scans, have very short half-lives. This means they decay significantly within a short period, reducing their effectiveness.
Consequently, the „last mile“ of radiopharmaceutical delivery, including transport, is crucial for maintaining the drug‘s potency and safety.
Speaking to IRIB TV3 on Monday night, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami explained that importing radiopharmaceuticals were impossible until recently.
This was because Western countries refused to provide radiopharmaceuticals to Iran due to sanctions, while regional airlines such as Qatar Airways did not undertake such shipments, he said.
President Donald Trump said Friday during remarks in Florida that the United States would take over Cuba “almost immediately,” suggesting an aircraft carrier could be positioned offshore after the conflict in Iran.
The comments came the same day Trump signed an executive order significantly expanding U.S. sanctions on the Cuban government and its affiliates.
The Wall Street Journal has obtained leaked diplomatic cables showing that the US plans to form a “Maritime Freedom Architecture” coalition to restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The plan focuses on intelligence sharing, diplomatic coordination, and simultaneous sanctions.
Welche Länder teilnehmen sollen und ob etwa Deutschland angefragt wurde, wurde nicht bekannt gegeben.
Nach Informationen des Wall Street Journal handelt es sich nicht um eine militärische Koalition. Die US-Botschaften im Ausland seien jedoch gebeten worden, ihre jeweiligen Ansprechpartner zu fragen, ob sie in der neuen Allianz ein „diplomatischer und/oder militärischer Partner“ sein möchten.
n Iranian business newspaper reported in April that reconstruction would take at least 12 years.
“The nuclear issue is honestly Betamax now,” Alan Eyre, a former member of the US team that negotiated the Iran nuclear deal, told MEE, referring to the now obsolete 1975 video cassette player.
“Everyone is talking about what the Iranians are willing to give up. But that is largely a function of what they are willing to get,” he added. „What the Iranians want is money.“
Eyre said there are four ways Iran can be compensated for a deal that reopens the Strait of Hormuz and ends with an agreement on its nuclear programme: reparations, tolling, unblocking frozen assets, and sanctions relief. Of the four, he believes a toll in the Strait of Hormuz is the likeliest path for a deal.
The European Union will expand the criteria of its Iran sanctions to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, two unnamed EU diplomats tell Reuters.
“There was a political agreement among ambassadors that we indeed would change the criteria in Iran’s sanctions regime so that we could also list persons and entities that are responsible for the obstruction of the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” one of the diplomats said.
Oil prices spiked to nearly $120 per barrel this week, their highest level since the pandemic. At the opening of the Asian markets on Friday, the price stayed above $100 per barrel, despite Trump bending the knee to the Kremlin dictator.
The Financial Times reported Thursday that Russia was already the biggest winner from Trump’s war, raking in as much as $150 million per day in extra budget revenues from oil sales.
But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, after announcing the move to release the sanctioned oil, said it “will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.”
March 10, 2026)
Russian media was awash Monday and Tuesday with headlines and analysis about how the soaring oil prices will affect the country, but also its adversaries in the West. “Eastern Strike: Oil Price Could Surpass $150” read the headline in Russia’s pro-government Izvestia newspaper.
Elsewhere, firebrand pro-Kremlin TV host Olga Skabeyeva quipped Tuesday about people in the neighboring NATO nation of Estonia having to walk because public transport was already running out of fuel.
After Putin‘s meeting Monday, President Donald Trump appeared to hand him another gift as he suggested his administration was lifting sanctions on “some countries” to stabilize the oil market.
(February 26, 2026)
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on five senior Nicaraguan officials, accusing them of helping President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-President, Rosario Murillo, to entrench an increasingly authoritarian system through financial controls, labor policies, telecommunications surveillance and military intelligence operations.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the designations target officials who lead key agencies enabling what it described as the Murillo-Ortega regime’s “campaign of repression and tyranny.”
(December 6, 2025)
At the Doha Forum, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese outlined how US sanctions imposed over her Gaza reports have effectively removed her from the global financial system. She said the measures, which she calls unlawful, have had a major impact on her everyday life.
(February 15, 2026)
Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, thanked African heads of state and government today via his Twitter account for the resolution condemning the US economic, commercial, and financial blockade against the island.
The Cuban foreign minister described the decision of the 39th African Union Summit, concluded in Addis Ababa, as a show of solidarity. For the seventeenth consecutive time, the summit rejected the economic, financial, and commercial policies imposed by Washington.
The resolution also demanded, for the third time, Cuba’s removal from the illegal list compiled by the U.S. State Department of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
(February 15, 2026)
The resolution reaffirms, once again, the deep historical, political, and solidarity ties that unite the peoples of Africa and Cuba, and constitutes a clear expression of African support for the elimination of this policy, which they consider unjust, illegal, and contrary to the principles of international law and the sovereignty of States.
(August 7, 2021)
Weil sie es wollen.
(August 7, 2021)
Because they want to.
Trump’s return to power is ushering in a new world order in which multilateralism and international organizations, starting with the United Nations, are in retreat.
(February 12, 2026)
Cuba’s current pain may not be enough to topple its Communist government, despite the desires of many Cuban exiles. Nor is the current crisis all Trump’s work. Cuba is a victim of the breakdown of the old international rules-based order.
(January 13, 2026)
Just weeks into a US pressure campaign to halt all oil shipments to the Caribbean island, a Bloomberg News analysis of satellite imagery finds the level of light at night has dropped as much as 50%