A House bill that could apply blocking sanctions on a host of Chinese companies included on various government denied party lists would “create enormous problems” for U.S. companies doing business in China, said William Reinsch, a former Commerce Department official and current Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The U.N. Security Council last week removed an Iraq-related entry from its sanctions list. The entry was for Walid Hamid Tawfiq al-Tikriti, an Iraqi national and governor of the Basrah province who was first sanctioned by the U.N. and the Treasury Department in 2003. He remains sanctioned by Treasury.

The U.S. has sanctioned more than 2,500 Russia-related parties or entities, including over 80% of the country’s banking sector by assets, since Moscow invaded Ukraine last year, said Elizabeth Rosenberg, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes. But she said the administration can still do more to increase pressure on the Russian government.

The U.S. this week sanctioned a China-based network of companies and people involved in manufacturing and distributing “ton quantities” of fentanyl, methamphetamine and MDMA precursors. The designations also target two entities and one person based in Canada.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control published two previously issued general licenses under its Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations. The full text of each license is available in the notice.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two entities and one person for “undermining the peace, security, and stability” of Sudan.

The U.S., the U.K. and the EU have seen a recent uptick in sanctioning people involved in organized crime, especially the U.S., which has “far and away sanctioned the greatest number of criminal actors,” the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said in a new report this month. But the nongovernmental organization said countries tend to impose these measures as part of a country-focused sanctions regime, which is a mistake because of the “highly fluid nature of modern illicit markets.” Focusing on traffickers and smugglers in one country, for instance, has a “displacement effect” and drives those actors to instead continue their illegal operations in “areas where they may fall outside the parameters of a sanctions regime.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted four entries from its Specially Designated Nationals List and updated six others. The entries are linked to either Russia or Myanmar. One entry, Russia-based Joint Stock Company Star, had been listed on the SDN List under two separate sanctions authorities, and the agency's move this week merged those two listings together, an OFAC spokesperson said Sept. 27. The agency didn't provide more information on why it deleted the other entries.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and five entities based in Iran, China, Hong Kong, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for their involvement in procuring sensitive parts for Iran unmanned aerial vehicle program. OFAC said the network has specifically facilitated shipments and financial transactions for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization’s procurement of servomotors, a “critical component” used in Iran’s Shahed-series UAVs. The agency said Iran has been supplying the Shahed-136 UAVs to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 10 people, nine of which are “Sinaloa Cartel affiliates and fugitives” responsible for “fentanyl and other illicit drug trafficking,” the Treasury Department said in a Sept. 26 news release. Those nine people are Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benitez, Leobardo Garcia Corrales, Martin Garcia Corrales, Liborio Nunez Aguirre, Samuel Leon Alvarado, Carlos Mario Limon Vazquez, Jimenez Castro, Dominguez Hernandez, and Vibanco Garcia. The tenth sanctioned person is Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego, a Colombian national and leader of the Clan del Golfo, which supplies cocaine to major drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel.