Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer highlighted U.S. and European cooperation on sanctions and export controls while speaking at the Transatlantic Business Summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and BusinessEurope, and said their governments are working on more ways to punish Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 23 sanctioned two leaders of al-Qa’ida-aligned terrorist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) for the hostage-taking of U.S. persons in West Africa. The designations target Sidan ag Hitta of Mali and Jafar Dicko of Burkina Faso. Concurrently, the State Department sanctioned five JNIM leaders, as well as two al-Murabitoun leaders, for hostage taking of U.S. nationals.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 23 sanctioned two companies and four people for their roles in malicious cyber activity against more than a dozen U.S. companies and government entities on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said April 21 that if sanctions are imposed on a unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), “I will fight this with all my powers.” Axios reported the previous day that the Biden administration plans to sanction the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The U.S. is sanctioning three entities in China and one in Belarus for supplying missile-applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programs, including its long-range missile program, the State Department announced April 19. The entities are Granpect Company Limited, Tianjin Creative Source International Trade Company LImited, and Xi’an Longde Technology Development Company Limited, all of China; and Belarus-based Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 19 sanctioned two entities for raising funds for two Israelis who were sanctioned in February for attacking West Bank Palestinians (see 2402010053).

The Biden administration plans to let the Treasury Department’s general license for transactions with Venezuela’s state-owned energy company expire April 18 because the South American country has not fully met its democratic commitments, the State Department announced April 17.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control said April 16 that it’s issuing a final rule to remove the Zimbabwe sanctions regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations. OFAC said it’s taking the action because President Joe Biden on March 4 terminated the 2003 national emergency declaration for Zimbabwe (see 2403040039). The final rule will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register April 17.

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations have discussed the possibility of imposing additional sanctions on Iran in response to that country’s drone and missile attack on Israel last week, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said April 15.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 15 issued new sanctions against 12 entities and 10 people for helping Belarus evade U.S. sanctions and support Russia’s “illegal” invasion of Ukraine.