The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three people and two entities in Mexico for their ties to a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to the Mexico-based Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The Treasury Department also published a new alert with red flags that could signal a company is using a U.S. bank as part of a fuel smuggling scheme on the U.S. southwest border.
The Council of the EU on April 28 extended the sanctions on Moldova for one year, pushing them to an April 29, 2026, expiration date. The restrictions currently apply to 16 people and two entities and were imposed on those seeking to destabilize, undermine or threaten the "sovereignty and independence of" Moldova.
The State Department this week sanctioned multiple entities and ships moving Iranian petroleum products and petrochemical products, including four sellers and one buyer of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian energy.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned six entities and six people based in Iran and China for their ties to a network that buys ballistic missile propellant ingredients for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. OFAC said the network has specifically provided Iran with sodium perchlorate, which is used to produce ammonium perchlorate, a substance subject to export controls by the multilateral Missile Technology Control Regime. The network has also supplied Iran with dioctyl sebacate, a chemical used in ballistic missiles.
Copa Holdings, the parent company of Latin American airlines Copa Airlines and Wingo, recently disclosed to the U.S. government that it may have violated U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
The U.K. issued a new version of a Russia-related legal services general license to reset the cap on fees that can be paid to British law firms by parties subject to Russia-related sanctions. The legal fees cap is set at about $2.68 million (or 2 million pounds) per law firm and the expenses cap at 10% of the legal fees, up to about $268,000 (or 200,000 pounds), for the duration of the license. The license takes effect April 29 and expires Oct. 28. The previous license expired April 28 (see 2410290017).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three vessels and their owners for supporting the Yemen-based Houthis and the group's attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, including by supplying them with oil shipments.
The Council of the European Union on April 25 extended its sanctions on Myanmar for one year, pushing them to April 30, 2026. The restrictions currently apply to 106 individuals and 22 entries and include an asset freeze, arms embargo and restriction on the export of dual-use goods and equipment for monitoring communication that may be used for internal repression.
The State Department praised Paraguay April 24 for designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization and expanding 2019 terrorist designations for the armed wings of Hamas and Hezbollah to cover the entirety of those organizations. “The important steps Paraguay has taken will help cut off the ability of the Iranian regime and its proxies to plot terrorist attacks and raise money for its malignant and destabilizing activity, including in the Tri-Border Area Paraguay shares with Argentina and Brazil,” the department said.
The U.K. extended the general sanctions license permitting insolvency-related payments and activities involving GTLK Europe and GTLK Capital until July 31, 2030. The license specifically permits any individual or corporation to "make, receive or process any payments, or take any other action, in connection with any Insolvency Proceedings, whether prior to or after the commencement of such proceedings." The license had been slated to expire July 31, 2025.