The European Union sanctioned seven members of Venezuelan’s security and intelligence forces for human rights violations, the European Council said in a Sept. 27 press release. The EU said it now has active Venezuelan sanctions imposed on 25 people. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.

The State Department sanctioned Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and first secretary of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, according to a Sept. 26 press release. The State Department also sanctioned his children: Alejandro Castro Espin, Deborah Castro Espin, Mariela Castro Espin and Nilsa Castro Espin. Castro is being sanctioned for human rights violations, the press release said. "As General of Cuba’s Armed Forces, Castro is responsible for Cuba’s actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela through violence, intimidation, and repression," it said.

A sanctioned shipping company received expedited removal from the Treasury’s sanctions list because of its cooperation, transparency and commitments to the agency, according to a Sept. 25 post by Winston & Strawn.

The U.S. does not plan on easing sanctions on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, even after reports that the administration considered lifting restrictions to encourage a meeting between President Donald Trump and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (see 1909110039).

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned one entity, three people and five ships for evading U.S. sanctions and delivering jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria, Treasury said Sept. 26.

President Donald Trump said he is not planning to impose additional sanctions on North Korea, saying the two sides are “getting along very well.”

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 24 sanctioned four entities and four vessels for operating in Venezuela's oil sector.

The European Union has been “very slow” to impose more sanctions on Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro-led regime, a senior State Department official said Sept. 23. The U.S. wants the EU to follow through on sanctions it said it would impose if the Norway-brokered negotiation broke down between the Maduro regime and the opposition party, the official said. The talks ended earlier this month. “We all understand that they have their procedures and that it’s hard with 28 countries,” the official said of the EU, “but I would hope to see movement in October.”

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a new nuclear deal with Iran and pointed to Donald Trump as the person who should negotiate it, in a Sept. 23 interview with NBC. "I think there's one guy who can do a better deal ... and that is the president of the United States. I hope there will be a Trump deal,” Johnson told NBC.

The United Kingdom plans to impose sanctions on countries that “arrest or intimidate dissident journalists,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in an article for The Telegraph. Raab said the "Magnitsky" sanctions will take effect after Brexit, according to a Sept. 23 post on the EU Sanctions blog, and will include bans on U.K. entry and asset freezes.