The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 30 issued a new frequently asked question to clarify certain sanctions exemptions related to Iran’s Imam Reza Holy Shrine. While the State Department has urged people not to travel to Iran, OFAC will exempt transactions related to “religious pilgrimages” by U.S. people to the shrine and the “acquisition of goods or services for personal use while traveling.” The agency also exempts certain donations to the shrine, including clothing, food, medicine and other humanitarian goods that are “intended to be used to alleviate human suffering.”

The U.S. and Qatar announced joint sanctions against a “major” Hezbollah financial network based in the Arabian Peninsula, which includes seven people and one entity, the Treasury Department said Sept. 29. Treasury designated Ali Reda Hassan al-Banai, Ali Reda al-Qassabi Lari, Abd al-Muayyid al-Banai, Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Nabi Shams, Yahya Muhammad al-Abd-al-Muhsin, Majdi Fa’iz al-Ustadz and Sulaiman al-Banai as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for supporting Hezbollah and terrorism. The agency also sanctioned Qatar-based Aldar Properties, which is controlled by Sulaiman al-Banai.

The State Department issued a correction to its Sept. 7 Federal Register document that implemented additional sanctions against Russia for the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny (see 2108230065). The correction fixes a citation to the U.S. Munitions Import List.

The United Nations Security Council on Sept. 21 removed an Iraq-related entry from its sanctions list. The UNSC no longer sanctions the Baghdad Stock Exchange, which was first designated in 2004. The United Kingdom's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also announced that it delisted the entity.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight people and two entities Sept. 22 for their ties to a Mexican drug cartel. The designations target Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela, a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, and seven other Mexican nationals for providing “material assistance” to Valenzuela Valenzuela: Leonardo Pineda Armenta, Gilberto Martinez Renteria, Jaime Humberto Gonzalez Higuera, Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa, Luis Alberto Carrillo Jimenez, Meliton Rochin Hurtado and Miguel Raymundo Marrufo Cabrera. OFAC also designated Acuaindustria Narciso Mendoza, S.C. de R.L. de C.V. and Club Indios Rojos de Juarez, S.A. de C.V. for being controlled by Rochin Hurtado and Marrufo Cabrera.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control deleted 16 people and 37 entities from its Specially Designated Nationals List this week, all of which were originally designated for counter-narcotics reasons. OFAC delisted the 16 people because they changed the behavior that led to their designations, a spokesperson for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said Sept. 22. “These individuals demonstrated a change in behavior and circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “Currently, they are no longer engaged in sanctionable activities.” OFAC removed sanctions from the 37 companies because they were originally designated only for being owned or controlled by the people OFAC delisted. “These companies, most of which are defunct, are not independently linked to any individuals who remain on the SDN List,” the spokesperson said. The OFAC notice also includes aliases for the people and entities.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a large virtual currency exchange for helping to facilitate transactions related to illegal ransomware attacks, and updated an advisory on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments. The Sept. 21 designation targets SUEX OTC, S.R.O., which has processed transactions involving illegal proceeds from at least eight ransomware variants, OFAC said. The agency said that more than 40% of SUEX’s “known transaction history is associated with illicit actors.”

The Biden administration is planning new sanctions to make it more difficult for hackers to use digital currencies to profit from ransomware attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 17. The sanctions could come as soon as this week and will be accompanied by guidance from the Treasury Department about the risks linked to facilitating ransomware payments, including penalties, the report said. The sanctions are expected to target specific people or entities rather than an “entire crypto infrastructure where ransomware transactions are suspected of taking place,” the report said. A Treasury spokesperson didn’t comment.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 17 sanctioned a network of Lebanon- and Kuwait-based financial conduits as well as a network of financial facilities that support Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The networks have helped launder tens of millions of dollars on behalf of terrorist groups and conduct currency exchange operations and trades in gold and electronics” for both Hezbollah and IRGC-QF, OFAC said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 17 issued another reminder (see 2107070005) to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. The reports should disclose blocked property held as of June 30. The OFAC notice includes a link to the blocked property report spreadsheet and guidance on filing the reports.