The U.S. renewed sanctions against Iran, the White House said March 12. The White House said the sanctions, first imposed March 15, 1995, will continue to deter Iran’s nuclear proliferation, its support for terrorism and the activities of the U.S.-sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (see 1904080037).

The European Union extended its sanctions against people or companies undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine, until Sept. 15, according to a March 13 notice. The EU also amended entries for 161 people and 11 entities listed under the sanctions regimes, and deleted entries for two deceased people.

The Treasury and State departments have struggled to fill positions related to sanctions implementation and enforcement despite increased funding for sanctions resources, according to a March 11 Government Accountability Office report. Positions have been difficult to fill due to competition from the private sector and a lengthy security clearance process, the GAO said, circumstances that have especially affected the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and State’s Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation. Vacancies ranged from 6% to 26% of its “authorized full time equivalents (FTEs).” GAO said State was authorized to hire six FTEs during the start of the 2020 fiscal year even though more than half of its “authorized persons” were vacant at the start of the year.

Five Senate Democrats asked the European Union to sanction a U.S.-designated Russian national for his involvement in U.S. election interference, according to a March 12 letter. In the letter, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his firms, which include the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization, are “actively engaged in spreading malign influence.” Due to the “broad reach and expanding nature of Prigozhin and the Wagner group’s malign activities abroad, we urge the European Union to take steps to constrain their ability to operate and to deter the Kremlin from engaging in these activities.” The senators added that U.S. sanctions are “only as strong as our multilateral alliances,” and said U.S. pressure would be “significantly enhanced” with EU collaboration.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a Venezuela-related designation, amended three Venezuela-related general licenses and amended two frequently asked questions, according to a March 12 notice. The designation targets Switzerland-based TNK Trading International S.A. for operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The company is a subsidiary of Russian state-controlled Rosneft Oil Company, according to a press release.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four Mexican businesses because of their links to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis Drug Trafficking Organization, Treasury said in a March 11 news release. The designated companies include the asset holding company International Investments Holding S.A. de C.V. and a gas station company GBJ de Colima, S.A. de C.V. The two companies have been involved in helping Los Cuinis and CJNG to evade U.S. sanctions.

Swedbank may have committed 586 violations of U.S. sanctions and self-disclosed the violations to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the bank said March 11. The bank said the violations involved about $4.8 million worth of transactions between 2014 and 2019 and include payments with its subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. More than 500 of the violations constituted “salary payments” and other payments associated with the operation of a vessel and operator located in Crimea that used Swedbank in the Baltics.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Zimbabwean government officials for human rights violations, Treasury said in a March 11 news release. Anselem Sanyatwe, former commander of the Zimbabwean National Army’s Presidential Guard Brigade, and Owen Ncube, the country’s minister of national security, committed violations against people protesting the country’s “flawed elections” and supporters of a Zimbabwean opposition group. OFAC also removed sanctions against Ray Kaukonde, Shuvai Ben Mahofa, Sithokozile Mathuthu and Naison Ndlovu, who were previously designated under Zimbabwe sanctions.

The Royal United Services Institute issued a March 5 report stating that a fleet of North Korean cargo ships is delivering coal to China in violation of international sanctions. RUSI called the operation a “large-scale, coordinated effort” to evade United Nations Sanctions, which includes North Korean ships transmitting “fake details” over their Automatic Identification System transponders when visiting Chinese waters. While RUSI says evidence of North Korea shipping coal to China first surfaced in a 2019 UN report, the institute said its findings confirm the UN information despite denials at the time from China. “Not only do North Korean vessels continue to visit this specific region,” RUSI said, “but they are doing so in unprecedented numbers.”

The U.S. is continuing sanctions against Venezuela, the White House said in a March 5 notice. The White House said Venezuela continues to threaten U.S. national security, and the sanctions will continue beyond the expiration date of March 8.