The U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit last week added anhydrous ammonia to the scope of a Russia-related general license that authorizes certain trade in fertilizers. The license covers certain financial services and other activities that make funds available to people connected with Russia "for the supply or delivery of specified fertiliser goods from Russia to a third country and making specified fertiliser goods available from Russia to a person in a third country," as long as they're intended for agricultural use.
Canada sanctioned four senior Iranian officials last week for "gross and systematic human rights violations" and for playing a role in carrying out "repressive policies." The designations target Mohsen Karimi and Ahmad Kadem Seyedoshohada, who are senior officials with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Mustafa Mohebbi, former head of the State Prison Organization in Tehran; and Hassan Akharian, head of Ward 5 and solitary confinement of the Rajaei Shahr Prison.
The U.S. on Dec. 20 seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela that was "suspected of carrying oil subject to U.S. sanctions," DHS said in a social media post. Secretary Kristi Noem said the U.S. "will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region."
The top Democrats on the oversight committees for the Bureau of Industry and Security are asking the agency for information about the Trump administration's plan to approve Nvidia H200 chip exports to China, including license applications, supporting documents and more.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments on an information collection related to “miscellaneous" licensing, reporting and enforcement activities associated with exports. BIS said it's revising the title of the information collection to include certain reporting activities.
The U.S. government is taking several steps to curb the transfer of U.S. firearms to drug cartels and other violent groups in Mexico, a State Department official told a congressional panel last week.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Dec. 19 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., Venezuela’s state-owned energy company. General License 5T, which replaced GL 5S, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after Feb. 3, 2026. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after Dec. 20.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned five adult family members of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, a nephew of the wife of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
A bipartisan group of House members led by Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, introduced a compromise Russia sanctions bill Dec. 18 that they hammered out through a flurry of year-end negotiations.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Trump administration will recommend renewal of USMCA only if 20 issues can be resolved, and maybe more, as he told Congress this isn't an exhaustive list.