Sanctions

Topic

Economic penalties placed on countries like Russia and Iran, driving them to seek alternative financial systems.


First Mentioned

2/22/2026, 11:22:27 PM

Last Updated

2/22/2026, 11:28:54 PM

Research Retrieved

2/22/2026, 11:28:54 PM

Summary

Sanctions are policy tools used by governments and international organizations to influence the behavior of states, entities, or individuals through economic, political, or social isolation. While the term is an auto-antonym that can mean either permission or restriction, in international relations it typically refers to measures like asset freezes, trade barriers, and arms embargoes. Recent heavy sanctions against Russia, including the seizure of its foreign reserves and exclusion from the SWIFT network, have accelerated global trends toward de-dollarization and economic sovereignty. This shift has significantly bolstered the BRICS bloc, which now rivals the G7 in purchasing power parity and controls a massive share of global energy resources. Sanctions are intended to be temporary and are subject to regular review, though they can have significant macroeconomic consequences, such as inflation and currency devaluation, as seen in the cases of Iran and Russia.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • Common Types

    Economic, Diplomatic, Military, Sport, and Thematic (e.g., terrorism or cyber attacks).

  • Legal Status

    Regulated through legal provisions; violations can result in fines or imprisonment (up to 4 years in some jurisdictions).

  • Economic Tools

    Asset freezes, trade restrictions, exclusion from financial networks like SWIFT, and tariffs.

  • Primary Purpose

    To influence the behavior of a state, group, or individual to comply with international norms or laws.

  • Active UN Regimes

    14 active regimes out of 30 enacted by the United Nations Security Council.

Timeline
  • The United Nations Security Council establishes its first sanctions regime on Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). (Source: undefined)

    1966-12-16

  • The United States and its allies enact sanctions against Iran following the start of the hostage crisis. (Source: undefined)

    1979-11-04

  • Sanctions against Iran reach their tightest point, targeting oil, gas, and financial institutions. (Source: undefined)

    2010-01-01

  • The United States imposes sanctions on the Russian Federation following the annexation of Crimea. (Source: undefined)

    2014-03-06

  • The US threatens to sanction any countries continuing to buy oil from Iran after the expiration of a six-month waiver. (Source: undefined)

    2019-04-01

  • The All-In Podcast discusses how heavy sanctions on Russia have accelerated the expansion of BRICS and global de-dollarization. (Source: undefined)

    2023-08-24

Sanction

A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include:

Web Search Results
  • Sanctions: What You Need to Know

    Sanctions refer to a variety of measures imposed by one country or a group of countries against another country, organization, or individual to encourage a change in behavior, punish non-compliance with international norms or laws, or achieve specific policy objectives. They are often meted out in the wake of the involved parties engaging in, or being suspected of engaging in, illegal activities. Both government entities and certain financial institutions have the authority to issue a sanctions list. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) established the first sanctions regime on Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) more than 50 years ago. Since then, the global organization has enacted 30 sanctions regimes; 14 of those are still in effect today. The sanctions regimes aim to [...] International sanction lists are a consolidated list of individuals and institutions who have been sanctioned by different authorities around the world, including but not limited to the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, and the United Nations. When a sanction search is conducted, an organization will be able to see whether a prospective employee or potential business partner appears on a jurisdiction’s sanctions list of convicted persons and/or institutions. This information is collected from daily publications produced by a variety of financial and regulatory authorities from around the world. Additional consultation is also provided by major anti-corruption organizations such as Interpol and the FBI. [...] When a financial sanction is enacted, it applies to all types of transactions and there is no minimum financial limit. These financial sanctions are designed to stop organizations from putting themselves at risk by transacting with a sanction-listed individual or institution. With a sanction search tool, organizations can check against publications across the region – e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom or the European Union – to find PEPs, high-risk individuals and other sanctioned persons who are listed. Depending on the platform you use for your sanctions screening, this is an easy way to reduce the time and effort required to perform detailed sanctions checks against listed targets.

  • What are sanctions? - Government.se

    Skip to content Listen Subscribe via email Swedish website # What are sanctions? Sanctions are economic and political measures that aim to influence the behaviour of a state, a group or individuals. For example, sanctions can be introduced in an attempt to change the policies of a state that threatens international peace and security, or to induce a state to cease systematic violations of human rights. Sanctions mean that restrictions limiting the freedom of a state, a group or individuals are imposed through a unilateral decision by a state or a collective decision by several states. For example, financial restrictions such as freezing assets, trade restrictions on specific goods or travel restrictions may be introduced. [...] These include both geographical sanctions targeting specific countries or regions and thematic sanctions targeting specific problems, such as terrorism or cyber attacks. Sanctions differ from other foreign policy instruments in that they are regulated through legal provisions. They are precisely formulated and violating them may entail criminal responsibility. There are provisions on this in the Act on Certain International Sanctions. The penalty may be a fine or a maximum of two years’ imprisonment or, if the offence is gross, imprisonment for a maximum of four years. Sanctions are intended to be temporary in nature and subject to regular review in light of developments. When their objective has been achieved, they are to be removed. ## About sanctions

  • What Are the Different Types of Sanctions and How Do ...

    {{snippets-guide}} ## What Are Sanctions? Sanctions are policy tools used by governments and international organizations to influence the behavior of states, entities, or individuals. They are typically imposed in response to actions that violate international law, threaten security, undermine human rights, or destabilize global systems. Unlike military action, sanctions aim to apply pressure through economic, political, or social isolation. They are intended to raise the cost of certain actions while signaling international disapproval and encouraging compliance with international norms. [...] Understanding the different types of sanctions helps compliance teams assess exposure, interpret regulatory requirements, and implement appropriate controls. ### Economic Sanctions Economic sanctions are among the most widely used types of sanctions. They are designed to restrict a country’s ability to engage in normal economic activity by limiting access to financial systems, markets, and services. These sanctions may include restrictions on banking relationships, capital markets, investment flows, and payment infrastructure. Governments often use economic sanctions to reduce state revenue, increase inflationary pressure, or disrupt economic stability. [...] ## Conclusion Sanctions are a powerful and flexible tool used by governments to influence behavior without military force. The different types of sanctions, including economic sanctions, trade sanctions, export restrictions, asset freezes, arms embargoes, aircraft sanctions, diplomatic sanctions, sports sanctions, and environmental sanctions, each serve distinct purposes and operate through different mechanisms. For businesses, compliance requires more than basic screening. It demands a clear understanding of how each type of sanction works, where exposure may arise, and how obligations overlap across jurisdictions.

  • Sanctions: What They Are, Common Types, & How to Stay ...

    ‍ Military Sanctions: Military sanctions are political and trade penalties directly targeting a nation or group's military procurement and financing efforts. Typically, military sanctions are used to curb—or stop—military action. Arms embargoes and other military-related trade restrictions are common forms of military sanctions. ‍ Sport Sanctions: Sports sanctions are diplomatic, political, and reputational penalties that target a nation’s, group’s, or individual’s ability to participate in sporting events. These can range from doping violations for individual athletes to participation bans on entire nations. In the latter, the sanction is intended to damage the international reputation—and morale—of the target nation. ‍ [...] ‍ ‍ ## What are Sanctions? Sanctions are financial and trade-related penalties imposed by one country on another entity (a country, company, or individual). This is done to put economic, trade, political, and other diplomatic pressure on the sanctioned entity to encourage them to change a certain behavior (or set of behaviors). ‍ Self-governing states use sanctions to affect economic, social, political, and military change with countries, institutions, and individuals to manage national—and international—relations. ‍ [...] ‍ Economic Sanctions: Economic sanctions are financial and trade penalties aimed at impacting a nation, company, or individual economically. Trade barriers, import and export restrictions, embargoes, tariffs, and other financial restrictions are commonly used as economic sanctions. Economic sanctions are meant to apply substantial costs to the sanctioned entity, forcing a policy or behavioral change. ‍ Diplomatic Sanctions: Diplomatic sanctions are political policy measures aimed at impacting a nation, company, or individual diplomatically. Limiting high-level government visits, recalling domestic ambassadors, and expelling foreign ambassadors are all forms of diplomatic sanctions. In extreme cases, international relationships can be restructured or entirely broken. ‍

  • Economic sanctions - Wikipedia

    Iran sanctions by the US and its allies, notably by barring nuclear, missile and many military exports to Iran and target investments in: oil, gas and petrochemicals, exports of refined petroleum products, banks, insurance, financial institutions, and shipping. Enacted 1979, increased through the following years and reached its tightest point in 2010. In April 2019 the US threatened to sanction countries that continued to buy oil from Iran after an initial six-month waiver announced in November 2018 had expired. According to the BBC, US sanctions against Iran "have led to a sharp downturn in Iran's economy, pushing the value of its currency to record lows, quadrupling its annual inflation rate, driving away foreign investors, and triggering protests". These sanctions have taken a toll on [...] Smart Sanctions have also not been totally successful in avoiding civilian harm or unintended consequences. For example, arms embargoes can impact the self-defense efforts of those under attack, aviation bans can affect a nation's transportation sector and the jobs of civilians associated with them, and financial sanctions targeting individuals raise due process issues. One example of smart sanctions in practice can be seen with sanctions imposed by the United States on the Russian Federation following the latter's 2014 annexation of Crimea, which were intended to exert pressure on Russia's financial sector. The sanctions resulted in American credit card companies Visa and Mastercard suspending all transactions of sanctioned Russian banks, effectively canceling the credit cards of [...] These sanctions banned Iran from carrying out tests on their nuclear weapons and imposed an embargo on the transfer of weapons into the country. These sanctions resulted in drastic macroeconomic downturns for the Iranian economy including volatility in GDP, increase in unemployment, and increase in inflation.

Location Data

Centre suisse de compétences en matière d'exécution des sanctions pénales, 11, Avenue Beauregard, Beauregard, Pérolles, Fribourg - Freiburg, District de la Sarine, Fribourg/Freiburg, 1700, Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svizra

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Coordinates: 46.8023130, 7.1463734

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