US lifts sanctions on Myanmar crony’s daughter amid policy shift
The United States lifted sanctions on Theint Win Htet, the daughter of Burmese military-linked businessperson Thein Win Zaw, on Friday.
Theint Win Htet stands accused of supporting the regime in Naypyidaw since it seized power during the 2021 military coup, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Theint Win Htet filed a complaint in July, arguing that she has no active role in her father’s business affairs in Burma.
James Shwe, the leader of the U.S.-based advocacy group Free Myanmar, told DVB that the Trump administration is facing “unfavourable optics” over its decision to lift sanctions on Theint Win Htet, whose family owns and operates the Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies in Burma, placed on them during the Biden administration in January 2024. Theint Win Htet’s mother was removed from the sanctions list in 2025.
The Trump administration has reversed U.S. policy since 2021 to isolate the military that ousted the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in 2021. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Michael Vance spearheaded the move to re-engage Naypyidaw in an effort to halt cyber scams in Burma targeting Americans, as well as acquiring access for the U.S. to Burma’s rare-earth elements.
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US opens direct talks with Myanmar’s regime
US imposes sweeping sanctions against the ICC
The Trump administration also imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel, on Friday. The former ICC Chief Prosecutor requested an arrest warrant for Burma’s regime leader Min Aung Hlaing in November 2025 on the charge of crimes against humanity.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions on the ICC after South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former ICC judge, won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. President Trump has coveted the Nobel Peace Prize since taking office for his second term in 2025. “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us,” said Rubio.
“The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC,” added Rubio. The sanctions cut the court off from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies and even using U.S. dollars. They set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business down. The ICC denounced the sanctions as an attack on rule of law.
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Learn more about Min Aung Hlaing’s case
A Nobel Peace Prize for international justice
Besides being a former ICC judge, the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay also sits as an ad hoc judge on the 15-member bench of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, for the ongoing landmark 2019 genocide case The Gambia v. Myanmar.
Pillay has overseen the legal proceedings over the last seven year on allegations that Burma violating the 1948 Genocide Convention during the 2017 military crackdown in Arakan State led to the killing of 9,000 Rohinyga and led to the displacement of over 700,000 into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Pillay has also served as the president of the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)—where she helped establish that systemic sexual violence constitutes an act of genocide—and was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008-14.
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Watch Navi Pillay react to winning the Nobel Prize
News by Region
ARAKAN—At least seven civilians were killed and 17 others were injured in airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on Pauktaw Township’s Sin Ein village on Saturday. Pauktaw, located 131 miles (210 km) east of the state capital Sittwe, was seized by the Arakan Army (AA) in 2024.
Wai Hun Aung, a humanitarian aid worker in AA-controlled territory, told DVB that five civilians were confirmed dead. Residents in Sittwe told DVB that fighting between the AA and regime forces is taking place along the road to Pauktaw. “I haven’t been able to sleep a single night,” a Sittwe resident told DVB. Read the full article on our website
MANDALAY—The Mandalay People’s Defence Force (PDF) has warned that regime ward and village administrators could be designated legitimate “military targets,” accusing them of forcibly recruiting males aged 18-35 under the regime’s conscription law in Madaya, Singu, and Thabeikkyin townships.
“We have warned them against [this],” the PDF told DVB, adding that some administrators were collecting bribes of 10,000 kyats ($2.22 USD) from each household monthly as a “military service fee,” to overlook conscription aged males from families in their targeted areas for recruitment. Read the full article on our website
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,495 MMK)
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