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.

Canada last week announced new sanctions against people and entities for either helping Iran acquire controlled technology or having ties to human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military regime.

The U.K. on March 7 removed Russian bank Rosbank PJSC and Turkish energy firm Active Denizcilik Ve Gemi Isletmeciligi Anonim Sirketi from its Russia sanctions list. Rosbank was sanctioned in 2023 for operating in Russia’s financial services sector, and Active Denizcilik was sanctioned last year for doing business in Russia’s energy sector. The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation didn’t give a reason for their removals.

Canada this week sanctioned seven people and three entities connected to ongoing fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The designations target Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan, leader of the SAF, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the RSF, for their “refusal to negotiate in good faith and adhere to a permanent ceasefire,” Canada said. It also sanctioned various SAF and RSF officers along with Sudan Master Technology, a Sudanese company making weapons for SAF; Tradive General Trading L.L.C., an RSF front company; and Al Khaleej Bank, a financial institution with ties to the RSF.

The U.K. this week lifted sanctions on a range of entities that had ties to the overthrown Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria while keeping sanctions on people still connected to the regime or involved in illegal Syrian drug trade.

Although President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to reimpose maximum sanctions pressure against Iran, a State Department spokesperson on March 6 declined to say whether the U.S. plans to allow a waiver to expire this week that has authorized exports to Iraq of Iranian gas and electricity.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control on March 6 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, the country’s state-owned energy company. General License 5R, which replaced GL 5Q, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after July 3. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after March 7.

Lionel Dumont, a French national who had been subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions for his ties to terrorism, was removed from the U.N.’s ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list last month (see 2502250012) after submitting a delisting request, according to a copy of a U.N. document emailed to industry March 4 by Australia's sanctions office. Australia said it updated its sanctions list to reflect the change.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned senior members and operatives of the Yemen-based Houthis, the group designated by the Trump administration as a foreign terrorist organization (see 2503040008). OFAC said the officials smuggled military items and weapon systems into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, negotiated Houthi weapons procurements from Russia, or have recruited Yemeni civilians to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

The U.S. this week sanctioned Shanghai-based Zhou Shuai and his company, Shanghai Heiying Information Technology Co., for illegally acquiring, brokering and selling data from “highly sensitive U.S. critical infrastructure networks.” OFAC said he has sold “illegally exfiltrated data” and access to compromised computer networks to other Chinese cyber hackers, including Yin Kecheng, who was allegedly involved in the recent reported hacking of the Treasury Department by the Chinese government (see 2501170072 and 2501020009). DOJ is offering up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Zhou and Yin.