The United Nations Security Council added two people to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida Sanctions List, the council said in an Aug. 14 press release. Ali Maychou, a Moroccan national and member of al-Qaida, and Bah Ag Moussa, a founding member of Ansar Eddine, a militant Islamist group, were sanctioned. The sanctions imposed asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes on Maychou and Moussa.

The State Department announced sanctions on the former director general of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services, the agency said in an Aug. 14 press release. Salah Abdalla Mohamed Mohamed Salih was sanctioned for “gross violations of human rights,” including accusations of torture, while he was head of Sudan’s NISS, the press release said. The State Department is also sanctioning Salih’s family members: Awatif Ahmed Seed Ahmed Mohamed and Shima Salah Abdallah Mohamed.

The Congressional Research Service released an Aug. 14 report on U.S. sanctions against Russia, including details about the first and second round of sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act. The report details the sanctions’ targets, purposes and how they can be lifted or waived.

Gibraltar released an Iranian tanker it had seized for possible violations of European Union sanctions, rejecting requests from the U.S. to continue detaining the ship.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is holding its 2019 Fall Symposium on Nov. 12 in Washington, D.C., OFAC said in an Aug. 14 notice. The symposium will feature a “comprehensive review” of U.S. sanctions and OFAC staff will be available to answer questions, the agency said. Registration is open, but the agency has not yet released an agenda. According to the webpage for the event, the agenda will be made available at the event.

The U.S.’s second round of Russian sanctions are expected to have a “minimal” impact, according to a post by Norton Rose Fulbright.

Switzerland renewed sanctions against 18 Venezuelan senior government officials who were sanctioned by the country in March 2018, according to an Aug. 5 notice from Switzerland’s Federal Department of Economic Affairs and an Aug. 9 post from the European Union Sanctions blog. The renewals took effect Aug. 7.

The United Nations on July 30 issued North Korean sanctions exemptions to two companies to allow them to export agricultural-related goods to North Korea. The two companies, Italy-based Agrotec SPA and Germany-based Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, are authorized to send North Korea goods for humanitarian purposes, including “improving food security” and the health of North Korean citizens.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 6 updated an entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List to include additional locations, addresses and other identifying information for Fadi Hussein Serhan. Serhan was designated in 2015 for acting as a Hizballah procurement agent and general manager of Beirut-based Vatech SARL, which he used to buy “sensitive technology and equipment for Hizballah,” according to OFAC.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a set of frequently asked questions and amended the Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations to implement a May executive order that imposed sanctions on Iran iron, steel, aluminum and copper, OFAC said in a notice scheduled to be published in the Aug. 7 Federal Register. The executive order was intended to cut off revenue streams from Iran’s metals sectors that fund the country’s nuclear weapons program, the notice said. The amendments to the sanctions regulations change the heading “Iranian Human Rights Abuses Sanctions Regulations” to the “Iranian Sector and Human Rights Abuses Sanctions Regulations” to reflect U.S. sanctions on Iran’s metal sectors.