Sanctions have long been employed as a tool by Western nations to achieve their foreign policy objectives. With the goal of influencing the behaviour of targeted countries, economic and diplomatic sanctions have been deployed with varying degrees of success

Western economies have imposed crippling economic sanctions on Russia, hoping to turn the screws on its government. Although they have failed to stop the war, they send a message to China and other authoritarian governments

The lack of confidence in the Russian economy has stemmed from at least two major sources, the fall in the price of oil and the international economic sanctions imposed on the country – what now?

Reports indicate that the Trump administration is planning to levy new sanctions on tankers working with Venezuela’s oil sector, representing a further blow to the country’s economy

Japan, North Korea and China are among the eight nations exempted from oil sanctions against Iran that came into force on November 5

Sanctions are complex, vary from country to country, and are ever-changing in today’s tumultuous geopolitical landscape. Many businesses, however, make assumptions that could come back to hurt them down the line