The Council of the European Union on Jan. 16 extended its sanctions measures on Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad for one year, pushing the measures to Jan. 20, 2027. The restrictions currently apply to 11 people and three entities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned 21 people and entities, along with one vessel, for helping to move oil, weapons and dual-use goods for the Iran-backed Houthis. The designations targeted what OFAC said are "financial conduits" between the Iranian government and the Houthis, as well as "front companies, facilitators, and operatives" in Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates that are part of the Houthis’ "vast revenue generation and smuggling networks."
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Iranian security officials involved in the country's violent crackdown on protesters, and it also designated people and entities that it said help launder revenue from Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales as part of a “shadow banking” network of sanctioned Iranian financial institutions.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission published a primer this week on China's relationship with Venezuela, including details about China's purchases of Venezuelan oil despite U.S. sanctions. The commission said China has become the "primary destination" for sanctioned Venezuelan oil, and Beijing uses sanctions evasion measures "similar to those it uses to import oil from other sanctioned countries like Iran and Russia, including transshipment, bartering, and 'shadow fleet' tankers with opaque ownership." Although the U.S. has sanctioned Chinese entities for cyber and surveillance operations in Venezuela, the report said designations against Chinese parties under Venezuela-related sanctions programs "had been exceedingly rare" until December, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted four Chinese companies and their vessels for operating in Venezuela's oil sector (see 2512310074).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week extended a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions for the negotiation of and entry into contingent contracts for the sale of Lukoil International GmbH -- the international business of Russian energy firm Lukoil -- and related maintenance activities. General License 131B, which replaces 131A, now expires at 12:01 a.m. ET Feb. 28. The license was scheduled to expire Jan. 17.
The U.S. highlighted at the U.N. this week what it called North Korea's continued violations of sanctions violations and its attempted evasion of those measures, including through cryptocurrency, cybercrime, its deployments of information technology workers around the world, and more. The findings were outlined in a report from the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group formed to report on North Korea-related sanctions breaches (see 2410170003).
The U.S. this week sanctioned the Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches of the Muslim Brotherhood for their support of Hamas and terrorism, the Treasury and State departments announced. The State Department specifically labeled the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and it also applied the SDGT label to Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, who Treasury said is the secretary general of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood.
The Council of the European Union on Jan. 9 renewed its sanctions on Guatemala for an additional year, extending them to Jan. 13, 2027. The measures apply to eight people and one entity.
The U.S.'s recent repeal of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 “will be a significant step towards greater investment and economic activity” in the war-torn country, but challenges persist more than a year after the ouster of President Bashar Assad, a trade lawyer said in an interview Jan. 8.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that his agency plans to eventually lift sanctions against Venezuela and is receiving significant interest from independent oil companies that want to reenter the market.