Sanctions

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has obtained a blue check mark on his official English-language X account, despite the social-media platform’s policy barring sanctioned individuals from purchasing its premium subscription service, CNBC reported.

President Donald Trump is facing bipartisan blowback after his administration temporarily eased sanctions on Iranian oil, a move that could allow Tehran to sell up to 140 million barrels now at sea and generate as much as $14 billion as oil prices surge during the U.S.-backed war against Iran.

The trial of former U.S. Congressman David Rivera started Monday in Miami as the Florida Republican faces charges that he illegally lobbied American officials on behalf of Venezuelan interests without registering as a foreign agent.

The United States may remove sanctions in the coming days on about 140 million barrels of Iranian oil stranded aboard tankers at sea, according to The Guardian, which cited recent comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it had imposed sanctions on an international network of 16 people and companies that allegedly diverted more than $100 million to Hezbollah since 2020. 

The United States has lifted sanctions on three Belarusian fertilizer companies and the country’s state investment bank in exchange for Belarus freeing 250 political prisoners, a move made as the war in Iran continues to drive fertilizer prices higher.

A trader identified by The Wall Street Journal as a central figure in Russia’s shadow fleet has revived his oil business after the Iran war disrupted supplies from the Persian Gulf and boosted demand for Russian crude that had been stranded at sea.

Companies House has removed cryptocurrency exchange Zedxion Exchange Ltd. from the UK’s register of businesses after an investigative report by OCCRP found the firm used a fictitious director and misleading incorporation filings to conceal links to sanctioned Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani.

The United States on Wednesday issued a general license broadly authorizing U.S. companies to do business with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, a move that could unlock new investment and eventually increase the country’s crude production capacity.

An Iranian banker sanctioned by Britain for allegedly helping finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) owns a luxury villa in Marbella through the Spanish subsidiary of a UK company.