Washington, DC - The Department of State has updated the Cuba Restricted List with five additional sub-entities owned by the Cuban military. The changes take effect today. The Department will continue to update the list as needed to ensure U.S. funds do not directly support Cuba’s security apparatus. Cuba’s military, security, and intelligence services suppress the human rights of the Cuban people and are deeply entrenched in Venezuela, providing security services to the former regime of Nicolas Maduro and contributing to its oppression of the Venezuelan people.

Mediterranean Sea - The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group (CSG) joined the Abraham Lincoln CSG in the Mediterranean, providing a unique opportunity for two strike groups to work together alongside key allies and partners in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.

Washington, DC - The United States is not granting any Significant Reduction Exceptions to existing importers of Iranian oil. Maximum pressure means maximum pressure.

Gaithersburg, Maryland - The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) held a ribbon-cutting today on its newest and largest solar energy array. The nearly 15,000 panels cover the equivalent of 11 football fields and are expected to produce more than 8 million kilowatt-hours of energy in the first year, accounting for about 4 percent of the campus’s energy consumption.

West Lafayette, Indiana - The Paris Agreement calls for reducing greenhouse gases enough to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels. This could be done by reducing emissions or capturing and storing atmospheric carbon.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice Program is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of the global terrorist organization Lebanese Hizballah. This announcement marks the first time that the Department has offered a reward for information on Hizballah’s global financial networks.