The Treasury Department this week issued a new alert about the risks faced by U.S. and foreign financial institutions from sanctioned international cartels. The alert highlights the Trump administration’s increased enforcement focus on cartels, including its decision earlier this year to label several Latin America-based criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists (see 2502190011 and 2502200019).
President Donald Trump has instructed the Treasury Department to increase sanctions "to bring President [Vladimir] Putin to the table," if necessary, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. He stated that Trump had "instructed [him] to rethink the sanctions regime" and that the administration is "going for the maximum impact sanctions."
The Council of the European Union on March 17 added Al Azaim Media Foundation, the media branch of the Islamic State's Khorasan Province, to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regime. The ISIL sanctions list now includes a total of 15 people and seven entities.
The Council of the European Union on March 14 extended the sanctions on those undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine for another six months, pushing the restrictions out to Sept. 15. The council also decided not to renew the listings of four people and removed three deceased individuals from the list. The sanctions apply to nearly 2,400 people and entities.
The Group of 7 nations last week discussed imposing more sanctions against Russia if it doesn't agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, including potentially a more strict cap on oil prices, they said in a joint statement after meeting in Quebec. They said any ceasefire “must be respected” and include “robust and credible security arrangements to ensure that Ukraine can deter and defend against any renewed acts of aggression.” The countries -- the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K., plus a representative from the EU -- also “condemned” military aid, along with the provision of weapons and dual-use components to Russia, by China, Iran and North Korea. The statement said China is “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war and of the reconstitution of Russia’s armed forces. We reiterated our intention to continue to take action against such third countries.”
The U.N. Security Council on March 11 updated the entries for 12 people on its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. The council updated some entries to indicate that they may have died, and it updated identifying information for the others.
The U.S. this week sanctioned Iranian Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Paknejad, along with several entities and ships helping to move Iranian oil, including to China.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned the Foxtrot Network, a transnational criminal group based in Sweden, along with its leader Rawa Majid. OFAC said the group has trafficked illegal drugs and "carried out attacks on Israelis and Jews in Europe," including a January 2024 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm on behalf of the Iranian government. The agency said the designations build on President Donald Trump's February memo that ordered U.S. agencies to pursue a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran (see 2502050020).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated several general licenses related to the Yemen-based Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, the group designated by the Trump administration as a foreign terrorist organization (see 2503040008).
The U.S. added more people and entities to sanctions and export control lists in 2024 than the previous year, with a large portion targeting Russia and China, the Center for a New American Security said this week.