Sanctions

The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has levied a £160,000 monetary penalty on Lloyds Banking Group for violations of Russia sanctions made by its subsidiary Bank of Scotland Plc. 

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday blacklisted nine ships and their owners in response to Iran’s ongoing crackdown on protestors, including Tehran’s decision to shut down internet access within the country. 

The U.S. is targeting Hamas’ covert support network, including six Gaza-based nonprofits that purportedly masquerade as medical charities while supporting the Palestinian group’s militant wing. 

A senior Labour lawmaker is urging the British government to close a sanctions loophole that allows jet fuel and other refined oil products derived from Russian crude oil to enter the U.K., Politico reported. 

President Donald Trump’s apparent green light for doing business in Venezuela is unlikely to prompt a rush of corporate investment, even if U.S. sanctions are rolled back, according to recent reporting by Dow Jones Risk Journal. 

The Trump administration’s first sale of Venezuelan oil under a new arrangement is valued at $500 million, with much of that money being held in a U.S.-controlled bank account in Qatar, according to Semafor. 

The White House imposed new sanctions on Iran even as the Trump administration appeared to step back from its threat of military action in response to Tehran’s ongoing crackdown on Iranian protestors, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration designated three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, claiming the groups contribute to regional instability and violence. 

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is preparing to push for new sanctions on Iran following a security crackdown that has “reportedly claimed hundreds of lives” since protests began nearly two weeks ago, Euronews reported Monday. 

Amid all of the spectacle that has come with the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, federal prosecutors have quietly amended a key claim they leveled against the South American leader last year. They no longer assert that the drug-trafficking organization he allegedly led—“Cartel de los Soles”—really exists.