The U.K. on Aug. 12 amended or corrected a total of four entries under its sanctions regimes covering cyberattacks, Iraq and global irregular migration and trafficking in persons.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned an armed group, a mining company and two export firms for their ties to violence and the sale of critical minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. John Hurley, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the critical minerals trade in the DRC is harming civilians, "fueling corruption, and preventing law-abiding businesses from investing in the DRC."

The State Department labeled the Balochistan Liberation Army a Foreign Terrorist Organization and added several aliases to its existing entry as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (see 1907020042), it said in Federal Register notices released this week. The additional aliases are Majeed Brigade, Fateh Squad and Zephyr Intelligence Research and Analysis Bureau. The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its sanctions entry for the group to reflect the change.

U.S. companies shouldn’t rush to start business with Syria despite the Trump administration lifting some sanctions, said Daniel Schneiderman, a former Pentagon official who oversaw Afghanistan policy.

The U.N. Security Council on Aug. 5 added an alias to the sanctions entry for Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. and others for his ties to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The alias is Bashar al-Nasiri.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 18 entities and people for helping the Iranian government evade sanctions, including financial companies, information technology firms and other businesses providing Iran with banking services or supplying it with advanced surveillance technologies.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 6 released its quarterly report on certain licensing activities for Iran, covering April-June. The reports provide licensing statistics for exports of agricultural goods, medicine and medical devices as required by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three senior members and one associate of the Mexico-based Cartel del Noreste, which it called one of the "most violent drug trafficking organizations" in the country and which the U.S. labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February (see 2502190011).

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is asking banks and other financial institutions to be aware of cybercriminals, drug-trafficking groups and others using convertible virtual currency kiosks for illegal activity. They use the kiosks -- which act as ATM-like devices that allow customers to exchange real currency for virtual currency -- to send payments under “false pretenses,” launder drug money and execute other activities that may violate FinCEN’s rules to counter money laundering and financing of terrorism. The agency's alert includes a list of red flags that banks should monitor and asks financial institutions to submit suspicious activity reports to FinCEN with the key term “FIN-2025-CVCKIOSK” if they suspect a transaction may be tied to illegal use of the kiosks.

Estonia has recently seen an uptick in shipments of imported plywood that it suspects of violating EU sanctions against Russia, the country’s tax and customs agency said this month.