Since December 2006 four sets of UN Security Council sanctions have been imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme, with Tehran still yet to satisfy the international community that its intentions are solely peaceful. UN sanctions have been augmented by a series of unilateral sanctions regimes notably in the US and the EU. The various regimes target multiple economic sectors. However, while sanctions appear to be widely perceived as constituting a valuable tool for the international community to apply pressure on Iran to negotiate over its nuclear programme, the wide range and scope of the various regimes, and in many cases a lack of detailed guidance on implementation, mean that uncertainty can exist within industry regarding their implementation. Much attention has been focused on the banking sector in recent years as policy-makers have adapted tools initially designed to target the assets and money-laundering capabilities of terrorist organisations to meet the needs of non-proliferation sanctions. This focus on the banking sector has forced banks and financial institutions to enhance greatly their compliance capabilities and procedures. However, other financial service sectors have not been subject to similar attention and, consequently, have not developed similarly sophisticated compliance capabilities. The obligation to comply with sanctions extends to a range of insurance products and activities, especially where these relate to commerce. Implementation can be costly and complex and it can be difficult to determine whether compliance policies and procedures meet the challenges. In terms of reinsurance, for example, ensuring compliance on broad-based, multi-activity coverage has become an important challenge for insurers. The shipping industry has been dramatically affected due to the implications of the sanctions on protection and indemnity insurance coverage. Unusual measures have in some cases been adopted, for example by the government of Japan, which has extended sovereign insurance coverage to Japanese tankers affected by the EU oil embargo on Iran. In this context, the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) at King's College London proposes to host a two-day themed workshop on Iran sanctions and the insurance industry. This workshop will bring together practitioners from major global insurance and reinsurance providers and brokers (compliance officers, etc), representatives from industries covered by relevant insurance policies (carriers, freight forwarders etc), policy-makers (UK, EU and US) and academia, for a frank discussion under the Chatham House rule. The workshop will have three principal aims: 1. to inform policy-makers on the challenges associated with the implementation of sanctions in the insurance industry; 2. to inform insurance industry participants on how to better implement insurance-related sanctions in practice; and 3. to explore the relationship between the challenges associated with the effective implementation of sanctions in the insurance industry and broader perspectives regarding the effectiveness of sanctions as a viable alternative to military force in addressing Iran's continued failure to comply with UN Security Council demands to suspend sensitive nuclear activities and to fully cooperate with international investigations. The focus on the insurance industry will be of great value in providing participants with an industry-specific, pan-regional perspective on the issues, ideally leading to enhanced understanding by industry of requirements and compliance mechanisms, and by policy makers of the practicalities of implementation. The workshop will also help to inform future policy-making in terms of the challenges and obstacles to the successful implementation of sanctions in the insurance industry.