A State Department spokesperson declined to say whether the agency has rescinded the visas of family members of International Criminal Court officials sanctioned by the U.S., as alleged by ICC judge Kimberly Prost (see 2509020041). "Due to visa record confidentiality, we have no comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases," the spokesperson said Sept. 2 in an email. Prost, an ICC judge sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control last month, said this week that some of her sanctioned ICC colleagues have children in the U.S. on temporary visas, and those visas "have been revoked.”

The U.K. on Sept. 3 revoked a sanctions license that previously permitted the continuation of business of Evraz's North American subsidiaries. The license let individuals and corporations continue business operations involving Evraz North America, Evraz Inc. NA and Evraz Inc. NA – Canada and their subsidiary companies.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week removed sanctions on Belarusian national Iryna Litviniuk, which were imposed in 2022 for "exploiting" the Guatemalan mining sector, and Musbah Mohamad M Wadi, who was sanctioned in 2020 for his ties to a network of smugglers "contributing to instability" in Libya. OFAC had originally added Litviniuk to the Specially Designated Nationals List under its Global Magnitsky sanctions regulations, and it added Wadi under its Libya sanctions. The agency didn't provide more information about the delistings.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned China-based Guangzhou Tengyue Chemical Co., which it said is involved in the manufacture and sale of synthetic opioids to Americans. The agency also sanctioned Huang Xiaojun and Huang Zhanpeng, two representatives of Guangzhou Tengyue who were "directly involved in coordinating the shipments" of those illegal drugs and dangerous chemicals to the U.S.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of shipping companies and vessels for smuggling and selling Iranian oil by disguising it as Iraqi oil. The network blends the two oils and markets the product internationally as “solely of Iraqi origin to avoid sanctions,” OFAC said.

Dariel Fernandez, Miami-Dade County’s tax collector, said Sept. 1 that he plans to shut down businesses that illegally engage in commerce with Cuba.

The U.K. on Aug. 28 amended the chemical weapons-related sanctions listing for Andrei Marchenko, a member of the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The updated entry now includes his middle name, Viktorovich.

France, Germany and the U.K. have begun the process to reimpose U.N. sanctions against Iran after accusing the country of failing to meet safeguards around its nuclear program (see 2508150010). The snapback sanctions, if implemented, would reimpose a host of U.N. restrictions that had been paused under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and two entities for helping North Korea deploy information technology workers at foreign companies to generate revenue for its government.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control is renewing a general license that authorizes certain imports of Russian non-industrial, unsorted diamonds that were substantially transformed outside of Russia. General License 104A, which replaces 104, authorizes those imports as long as the diamonds were located outside of Russia on March 1, 2024, for diamonds weighing 1 carat or more, and Sept. 1, 2024, if they weigh more than 0.5 carats but less than 1 carat. The license was set to expire Sept. 1 (see 2408230043), but it now expires on that date in 2026.