The Treasury Department this week sanctioned 10 people and six entities in Iran and Russia involved in trading Iranian weapons and drones, along with four vessels delivering those shipments. The State Department also designated various shipping companies and vessels, including Iran Air, which the agency said is being used to move Western-origin goods to Russia.

The U.S. this week sanctioned three people, five companies and two vessels involved in smuggling oil and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) for Hezbollah, and it updated a sanctions advisory for the maritime energy shipping industry to highlight risks from shipments to Syria.

The U.K. on Sept. 10 added three entries to its Russian sanctions regime and seven people and entities to its Iran sanctions list, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced in a pair of notices.

The U.S. this week sanctioned nine Mexicans and 26 Mexico-based entities with ties to a network that steals fuel to generate revenue for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a sanctioned Mexican drug trafficking group. The network has generated “tens of millions of dollars” for the cartel through fuel theft from Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, Pemex, including by illegally drilling taps into fuel pipelines, stealing from refineries and hijacking tanker trucks, the Treasury Department said.

The EU Court of Justice on Sept. 5 said that a notary doesn't violate sanctions on Russia by authenticating the sale of a property owned by a non-sanctioned Russian company. The court said that authentication services don't amount to the provision of "legal advisory services," which are barred under EU sanctions if provided to "legal persons established in Russia."

The EU General Court on Sept. 4 upheld the sanctions listing for Samer al-Assad, a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after rejecting Samer al-Assad's claim that the EU's listing criteria, which permit sanctions on the president's family members, violates "general principles of EU law."

The U.S. sanctioned two shipping companies and two vessels last week for their involvement in exports of liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, an energy project sanctioned by the U.S. The designations target Gotik Shipping Co and Plio Energy Cargo Shipping OPC PVT LTD, which are the ​​registered owner and commercial manager, respectively, of LNG carrier New Energy. The U.S. also sanctioned the Mulan, an LNG carrier managed and operated by Pilo Energy.

Switzerland on Sept. 4 indefinitely extended its humanitarian exemption from its sanctions regime on Syria. The exemption was first implemented by the EU in February 2023 on a temporary basis after an earthquake created a "grave humanitarian crisis" in the nation. Under the exemption, sanctions don't apply to "activities that are necessary for the humanitarian work of international organizations and some categories of humanitarian actors," the Swiss Federal Council said. The EU in May renewed the exemption for one year (see 2405280013).

The U.S. government should make greater use of economic sanctions against the Houthis to weaken the Yemen-based group’s ability to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, a Yemeni think-tank leader recommended Sept. 4.

The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 people and two entities involved in Russian government “influence operations,” including state-funded news outlets and their employees.