The State Department last week removed Cuba from its list of countries that aren’t cooperating fully with U.S. counterterrorism efforts, an agency spokesperson told reporters May 16. The spokesperson said several recent actions by Cuba -- including the fact that it resumed “law enforcement cooperation” with the U.S. on antiterrorism efforts in 2023 -- led the State Department to remove the country from the list.

Australia sanctioned several Iranian senior government and military officials, businesspeople and companies linked to the country’s “destabilising behaviour” of its missile and drone programs, which has “fostered instability across the region for many years,” Australia’s foreign affairs ministry said this week. Among the designations are Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, Iran’s defense minister, and Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force. Australia also sanctioned the IRGC Navy, which it said wrongly seized an Israeli-linked and Portuguese-flagged civilian ship in international waters on April 13.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and three entities in Russia for helping to transfer weapons and other military items from North Korea, including shipments of mortars, military communications equipment and aviation parts.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned two people and three entities in Russia for helping to transfer weapons and other military items from North Korea, including shipments of mortars, military communications equipment and aviation parts.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Ali Yagoub Gibril and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed, two military officers with the Rapid Support Forces, a warring group that has contributed to conflict in Sudan. OFAC designated Gibril for being the RSF Central Darfur commander and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed for being an RSF major general and the group’s head of operations. The agency said RSF began attacks in North Darfur last month, which have “caused dozens of civilian casualties, including children.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned three Nicaragua-based entities for their ties to Russia or for earning revenue for President Daniel Ortega’s regime. The designations target the Training Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (RTC) in Managua, a subdivision of the Russian government’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as Compania Minera Internacional, Sociedad Anonima (COMINTSA) and Capital Mining Investment Nicaragua, Sociedad Anonima (Capital Mining), gold companies that generate revenue for the government.

Flywire, a U.S.-headquartered global payments company, may have violated U.S. sanctions against Cuba, Iran or Syria, it told the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week designated Russian national Dmitrii Aleksandrovich Beloglazovand and three of his companies for their involvement in a scheme to help Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska evade U.S. sanctions. OFAC said the scheme was meant to unfreeze more than $1.5 billion worth of shares belonging to Deripaska.

Canada last week announced a new set of sanctions against people linked to the terror group Hamas or Iran’s military. The designations target Khaled Qaddoumi, Ali Morshed Shirazi, Mostafa Mohammad Khani and Ali Ahmad Faizullahi, who Canada said has offered military training, resources or other support to “help bolster Hamas’ terrorist capabilities.”

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed a Venezuela-related general license to extend the current authorization for certain transactions with the country’s state-owned energy company. General License No. 8N, which replaces No. 8M (see 2311160051), authorizes certain transactions between Petroleos de Venezuela and Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Weatherford International, with certain restrictions, through 12:01 a.m. EST Nov. 15. The license was scheduled to expire May 16.