The U.S. sanctioned three entities it said are helping to fund the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the country’s two warring groups: the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The designations, announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control Jan. 31, target Alkhaleej Bank Co. Ltd. and Al-Fakher Advanced Works Co. Ltd., two companies controlled by the RSF, and Zadna International Co. for Development Ltd., which acts as a “vehicle for military money-laundering” for the SAF.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two companies with ties to the Myanmar military along with four of their “cronies” for helping the regime fund itself. The designations were announced days after the U.S. updated its Myanmar business advisory (see 2401300010) and mark the three-year anniversary of the country’s military coup, which sparked multiple rounds of sanctions and export controls by the U.S. and its allies (see 2310310028, 2306210017, 2303240024 and 2107020003).

The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities and one person for providing “critical” funding to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah financial network, including by generating hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of Iranian commodities to the Syrian government and elsewhere.

Several lawmakers on Jan. 29 urged the Biden administration to reimpose sanctions on Venezuela after the country’s supreme court barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from this year’s presidential election (see 2401290048).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two cybersecurity experts with ties to the Islamic State group along with a “financial facilitator” that has helped to transfer funds to Islamic State officials in Syria.

Senior Treasury Department official Brian Nelson met this week with nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and others to discuss the U.S. designation of the Yemen-based Houthis as a terrorist organization, which will take effect next month and subject the group to strict financial sanctions (see 2401170025).

Several lawmakers urged the Biden administration to reimpose sanctions on Venezuela after the country’s supreme court barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from this year’s presidential election.

The Treasury Department said this week it’s considering designating Iraqi-based Al-Huda Bank as a foreign financial institution of primary money laundering concern, and sanctioned its owner Hamad al-Moussawi. A proposed rule released by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network could “sever the bank” from the U.S. financial system by blocking banks from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for or on behalf of the bank.

The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced joint sanctions against a network of people who try to kidnap or assassinate Iranian dissidents and opposition activists around the world.

The U.K. issued an alert this week warning that Russian oligarchs may be using artwork storage facilities to hide their frozen assets, evade sanctions or launder money. People and companies involved in the art industry should be conducting “regular due diligence checks to understand any change in a client’s circumstances, or those of elites they may represent,” the country’s National Crime Agency, Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and other agencies said.