The U.S. this week sanctioned U.N. official Francesca Paola Albanese for working with the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute U.S. or Israeli nationals with ties to alleged human rights abuses being carried out by Israel against Palestinians. The State Department said Albanese is aiding with that investigatory work "without the consent of" the U.S. and Israel. Neither country is a party to the Rome Statute -- the treaty that established the ICC -- "making this action a gross infringement on the sovereignty of both countries," the State Department said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned more than 20 entities in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey for helping to sell Iranian oil in support of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The designations target some companies that OFAC said have bought hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian oil combined.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed a general license that authorizes payments of certain taxes, fees, import duties, licenses, certifications and other similar transactions involving the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation that would normally be blocked under Directive 4 of Executive Order 14024. General License 13N, which replaces 13M, authorizes those transactions through 12:01 a.m. ET Oct. 9, as long as they're “ordinarily incident and necessary to the day-to-day operations in the Russian Federation of such U.S. persons or entities.” The license was scheduled to expire July 9.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a North Korea-based hacker along with a Russian national and several related companies for helping to employ North Korean information technology workers abroad.

The State Department has revoked the foreign terrorist organization designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the agency said in a Federal Register notice this week. The move, effective July 8, is in line with President Donald Trump’s mandate to deliver sanctions relief to Syria, the State Department said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week revised and extended a Venezuela-related license that authorizes certain transactions related to liquefied petroleum gas. General License 40D, which replaces 40C, authorizes certain transactions that are "ordinarily incident and necessary to the delivery and offloading" of liquefied petroleum gas in Venezuela involving the government, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela or any entity owned 50% or more by PdVSA. Those transactions are authorized through 12:01 a.m. ET Sept. 5 as long as the liquefied petroleum gas was loaded on a vessel on or before July 7.

A California-based digital interface design company said in its initial public offering this month that it may have violated U.S. sanctions.

The U.K. on July 3 added three financial sanctions FAQs covering what constitutes an "economic resource" and when licenses are required from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation if licenses have been issued by a "Crown Dependency or Overseas Territory."

The U.S. and its allies should consider using additional sanctions to force Iran back to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons program, although more sanctions also risk pushing Iran to cooperate even more closely with China, Russia and North Korea, a former Pentagon official said last week.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned a network of people, entities and ships for transporting and buying billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil, some of which has benefited Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. OFAC said some of companies are run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said, who the agency said smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil.