Alphabet Soup
This 5-letter act passed in 1977 gives the U.S. President the authority to regulate commerce and freeze assets after declaring a national emergency. (Hint: the Supreme Court recently ruled on it)
What is IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act)?
While the U.S. successfully cut off imports of Russian oil, it has struggled to sanction this other energy source that heavily heats European homes.
What is natural gas?
In response to oil embargoes, Iran has repeatedly threatened to close off this narrow, strategic strait through which 20% of the world's petroleum passes. (Hint: its currently closed!)
What is the Strait of Hormuz?
Decades before the official EU was formed, its predecessor for security (the European Political Cooperation) imposed its very first joint arms embargo on China in 1989 following a brutal military crackdown in this famous Beijing plaza.
What is Tiananmen Square?
In 2022, headlines blared that this global secure financial messaging network was cutting off major Russian banks from processing international payments. (Hint: not to be confused with the pop star of the same name)
What is SWIFT? (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication)
In response to the invasion of Ukraine, authorities in Spain and Italy aggressively began seizing these massive, ultra-luxury ocean vessels owned by oligarchs.
What are superyachts?
Officially known as the JCPOA, this 2015 agreement lifted heavy sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear program.
What is the Iran Nuclear Deal?
President JFK famously ordered his press secretary to buy up 1,200 cigars just hours before he signed the official embargo making them illegal to import from this tropical country.
What is Cuba?
Headquartered just down the street from the White House, this 4-letter office within the Treasury Department is the main body responsible for enforcing U.S. economic sanctions and embargoes.
What is OFAC? (Office of Foreign Assets Control)
To get around Western price caps, Russia assembled this massive, secret fleet of aging, uninsured tankers to ship oil export across the globe.
What is the "shadow fleet"?
This Georgia-born president, who originally put the first U.S. sanctions on Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis, was famously a former peanut farmer.
Who was Jimmy Carter?
Following the collapse of the Assad regime in late 2024, nations moved quickly to lift decades of sanctions against this Middle Eastern country.
What is Syria?
In 2004, Congress created this 3-letter office to combine the Treasury's preexisting intelligence and enforcement arms to cut off funding to cartels and rogue nations.
What is TFI? (The Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence)
Sharing borders with both Ukraine and Austria, this Central European country led by Viktor Orbán has repeatedly voted against or delayed EU aid packages for Kyiv.
What is Hungary?
In 2007, Iranian state media reported that police had "arrested" 14 of these small bushy-tailed animals near a nuclear facility, claiming they were trained Western spies outfitted with tiny GPS units and listening devices to monitor their nuclear activities.
What are Squirrels?
In 2013, the EU enacted trade sanctions for the first time on a territory of its own member state, Denmark, targeting this North Atlantic island located between Scotland and Iceland.
What are the Faroe Islands?
This 3-letter list maintained by OFAC is the ultimate "blacklist" where listed individuals have all their U.S. assets frozen.
What is the SDN list? (Specially Designated Nationals)
After this American fast-food giant pulled out of Russia due to sanctions, its restaurants were famously reopened under the local name "Vkusno i tochka" (Tasty and that's it).
(Hint: their biggest copycat menu item is called "The Big Hit")
What is McDonald's?
Ignoring copyright laws due to trade embargoes, Iran’s state TV produced Haft Sang, a frame-by-frame, unauthorized remake of this hit ABC family documentary sitcom.
What is Modern Family?
The UN Security Council imposed mandatory economic sanctions for the first time in 1966, targeting the white minority government of this African nation then known as Rhodesia.
What is Zimbabwe?