President Donald Trump on Feb. 26 said he is reversing certain sanctions relief provided to Venezuela by the Biden administration as part of an “oil transaction agreement” signed in November 2022. That date was when the Office of Foreign Assets Control granted U.S. oil company Chevron a general license to resume certain oil activities in Venezuela, which was intended to support the newly restarted negotiations between Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s regime and the country’s opposition party (see 2211280042).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six companies based in mainland China and Hong Kong that have helped to supply drone parts to sanctioned Iranian firms. OFAC said the companies “facilitate the purchase and shipment of key unmanned aerial vehicle components to Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra, sanctioned in 2019, and its subsidiary Narin Sepehr Mobin Isatis, which supply Iran’s UAV and ballistic missile programs.
The U.N. Security Council last week removed Lionel Dumont from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. Dumont, a French national, was originally sanctioned for his ties to terrorism. The U.N. didn’t release more information.
Canada issued a new round of Russia-related sanctions this week, designating 76 people and entities that are either supporting Russia's military industrial base, are members of the Russian government or have other ties to the country’s war against Ukraine. The sanctions, announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office and detailed by Global Affairs Canada, also target 109 vessels that have moved “hydrocarbons” and other goods to earn revenue for Russia’s military and 92 oil tankers transferring Russian oil to third countries.
The Council of the European Union on Feb. 24 suspended various sanctions on Syria to support an "inclusive political transition" there, the council said.
The U.K. added 34 people and 33 entries to its Russia sanctions list on Feb. 24, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced. In addition to listing Russian companies, OFSI sanctioned companies based in Hong Kong, China, Germany, Thailand, India, Ukraine, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Kyrgyzstan for contributing to Russia's economy or war effort, along with businesspeople and military figures from Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, North Korea and Israel for contributing to the destabilization of Ukraine or operating in a sector of strategic significance to Russia.
The U.S. this week sanctioned more than 30 people, entities and ships helping to sell and move Iranian petroleum products, including oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, tanker managers in India and China, and Iranian oil officials. The Treasury Department said the newly designated tankers have helped ship tens of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
A European Parliament report published this month analyzes how the EU is approaching lifting sanctions against Syria after the December overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The Australian Sanctions Office will be working over the coming months to improve its PAX Portal, which is used to apply for sanctions permits and send “secure” sanctions-related inquiries to the government, the office said in a Feb. 21 email to industry. The improvements will “enhance user experience and overall functionality,” Australia said, including by “improving the process to apply for a sanctions permit.” PAX users will see some visual changes to the portal, along with “minor bug fixes,” the email said, and the “underlying functionality of PAX will be largely the same as it is now.” Australia is expecting some larger changes involving the portal’s functionality to be released around April.
The U.S. and 10 of its close allies held the first meeting last week of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) Steering Committee, the group formed last year to report on North Korea-related sanctions violations and evasion. The committee, which also includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and the U.K., was established after Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council proposal that would have extended the “panel of experts” that had been monitoring U.N. sanctions against North Korea (see 2410170003).