The US Commerce Department will temporarily lift export restrictions on Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE just weeks after enacting them, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed senior official at the department. “As part of the effort to resolve the matter, and based upon binding commitments that ZTE has made to the US government, Commerce expects this week to be able to provide temporary relief from some licensing requirements,” the senior official said. In early March the Commerce Department imposed the restrictions based on allegations that ZTE had set up a series of shell companies used to illicitly re-export items to Iran, violating US export laws.