International energy sanctions have created a trap where companies get in trouble if they follow the law and get sued if they don't.
While the US uses sanctions to control global energy markets, foreign courts often refuse to recognize those sanctions as a valid reason to break a contract. This leaves companies in an impossible dilemma: follow US sanctions and face multi-million dollar breach-of-contract lawsuits abroad, or honor the contracts and face criminal prosecution at home.
Energy Sanctions Hegemony
SSRN · 6389079
<p><span>While the United States leverages its global financial dominance to deploy unilateral energy sanctions as a primary economic tool, <span>these sanctions create an impossible dilemma for U.S. energy companies: comply with sanctions and breach foreign contractual obligations or honor their contractual </span><span>obligations and face prosecution at home.</span> This extraterritorial assertion of regulatory power systematically undermines the foundational principles of contract law, disru