The U.S. and U.K. this week announced coordinated designations against Iran and the Yemen-based Houthis for their roles in carrying out attacks on commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Hong Kong-registered Kohana Company Limited and Marshall Islands-registered Iridescent Co Ltd. for operating a vessel shipping more than $100 million worth of Iranian commodities to China. The Panama-flagged Kohana is on its way to China, where it plans to offload the cargo to Chinese businesses, OFAC said.

Canada and Australia last week announced a range of new Russia-related sanctions to mark the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Treasury Department published an analysis of the Russian oil price cap last week, saying that sanctions enforcement is “successfully forcing” Russia to sell oil at a discount, although Russian oil export markets have remained stable. The analysis includes data that tracks the price of Russian oil over the last two years and analyzes how the country’s revenue and exports have changed over time.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Russian state-owned shipping company and fleet operator Joint Stock Company Sovcomflot along with 14 of its crude oil tankers. Deputy Treasury Secretary said the designation will deal a “huge blow” to Russia’s shadow fleet operations (see 2303230010), which it uses to try to evade the global price cap on Russian oil.

The U.N. Security Council and the U.K. this week sanctioned six military leaders involved in violence or human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The designations target Apollinaire Hakizimana, Ahmad Mahmood Hassan, Michel Rukunda, Mohamed Ali Nkalubo, William Amuri Yakutumba and Willy Ngoma. The U.S. announced similar sanctions last year when it designated six Rwandan or Congolese nationals contributing to conflict in the DRC (see 2308240019).

The State Department this week released its 2023 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act Annual Report, detailing actions it took to impose Magnitsky sanctions last year, including 78 foreign person designations. The report lists each of the designations, including why they were designated.

President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes sanctions against people and entities in Libya, the White House said Feb. 21. The U.S. said the situation in Libya continues to pose a threat to American national security, citing ongoing violence in the country, human rights abuses, violations of the arms embargo imposed by U.N. Security Council and the misappropriation of Libya’s natural resources. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Feb. 25.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two Russian nationals for their ties to LockBit, a Russia-based ransomware group. The designations target Ivan Gennadievich Kondratiev, a LockBit affiliate and leader of the National Hazard Society, a LockBit affiliate sub-group; and Artur Sungatov, a Lockbit ransomware group affiliate who has “actively engaged in LockBit ransomware attacks,” OFAC said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Feb. 16 issued a new guidance document on U.S. sanctions against Ansarallah, also known as the Houthis, to coincide with sanctions taking effect on the Yemeni group that same day pursuant to its formal addition to the Specially Designated Nationals list.