Russia is using the United Arab Emirates as a major transhipment hub to import controlled goods, a Treasury Department official said last week. UAE companies exported more than $18 million worth of goods to sanctioned Russian entities between July and November, said Elizabeth Rosenberg, assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes. They also exported more than $5 million worth of U.S.-origin and export controlled goods to Russia June to November. Those items included “semiconductor devices” used by Russia to fight its war in Ukraine.

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

President Joe Biden this week extended national emergencies that authorize certain sanctions related to Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Russian actions in Ukraine. Each was renewed for one year.

The U.S. this week sanctioned six entities and 20 vessels that have helped transport or sell Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products. The designations target companies based in China, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, including China-based Global Marine Ship Management. Co. and Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping. Co., the State Department said. The 20 designated ships have ties to Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping, Vietnam-based Golden Lotus Oil Gas and Real Estate Joint Stock Company, and UAE-based Swedish Management Co.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned eight Mexican companies linked to a scam involving “timeshare fraud” on behalf of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a “violent” Mexican drug trafficking organization. The agency also issued new guidance to alert industry about the scam and other schemes, including one involving people falsely claiming to represent OFAC and requesting payments through phone calls and emails.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week published two sets of previously issued general licenses under its Venezuela sanctions regime. The full text of each license appears in the respective notice.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three entities and two people “illicitly generating revenue” for North Korea. The designations target Chilsong Trading Corp., a North Korean government trading company, and Korea Paekho Trading Corp., a government-controlled company that conducts art and construction projects for “regimes” throughout the Middle East and Africa. OFAC also sanctioned Hwang Kil Su, Pak Hwa Song and their Democratic Republic of the Congo-based company, Congo Aconde SARL, which earns revenue from construction and statue-building projects with local governments.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated an existing China-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The entry is for Hebei Atun Trading Co., a company sanctioned by OFAC in 2021 for its involvement in fentanyl precursor chemical sales and falsifying chemical shipment details.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Jesus Cisneros Hernandez, a Mexican arms trafficker, for his ties to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a “violent Mexico-based organization” that traffics fentanyl and other drugs that enter the U.S., OFAC said. It said the designation was coordinated with Mexico and noted CJNG was previously sanctioned in 2015.

Canada this week sanctioned 12 senior Iranian military and law enforcement officials who “have participated in gross and systematic human rights violations.” The designations target several members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Law Enforcement Forces, including Seyeh Sadegh Hosseini, an IRGC general, and Rahim Jahanbakhsh, an LEF second brigadier general. Canada said the Iranian government “continues to brutally oppress its people and to deny them their fundamental rights and freedoms.”