The U.N. on Sept. 18 officially ended its sanctions regime against Mali, removing the eight people designated under the asset-blocking measures after Russia was the lone member to veto an extension of the sanctions for one year during an Aug. 30 meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week deleted four Liberia-flagged oil tankers from its Specially Designated Nationals List. The vessels were sanctioned for their ties to the Vista Clara Shipping Corp. and Azul Vista Shipping Corp., companies sanctioned last year for their ties to an oil smuggling network overseen by Viktor Artemov, a person who has provided support to Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quad Force. OFAC didn’t immediately release more information.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned seven people and four entities in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey for their involvement with Iran’s drone development and production. The agency also updated the existing entry for U.S.-sanctioned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) to add a new alias, saying that the company since last year has used the name Shahin Co. in contracts with overseas suppliers to evade U.S. sanctions and export controls.

The U.S. this week sanctioned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, and updated the sanctions listing for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, an agency involved in wrongfully detaining U.S citizens. The Treasury Department said Ahmadinejad supervised the ministry during his time as president, and wrongfully detained former FBI special agent Robert Levinson and three U.S. hikers. The two designations came as Iran released five U.S. citizens who have been imprisoned in the country, some for years, as part of a deal with the U.S. to unfreeze nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds to be used for humanitarian relief (see 2308150072).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week updated one Syria- and one Iran-related entry on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The agency updated identifying information for Atif Najib, a former Syrian military official, and Hosein Salimi, commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The U.S. and its allies last week sanctioned various people and entities involved in the Iranian regime’s suppression of protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s Morality Police last year.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned four people and three entities operating as “key” Hezbollah operatives and financial facilitators in South America and Lebanon. The designations target Amer Mohamed Akil Rada, Samer Akil Rada, Mahdy Akil Helbawi and Ali Ismail Ajrouch. The agency also sanctioned Venezuela-based BCI Technologies C.A., which is managed by Rada; Colombia-based Zangan S.A.S., managed by Helbawi; and Lebanon-based Black Diamond SARL, owned by Ajrouch.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned 11 people involved in the Russia-based Trickbot cybercrime group, which has targeted the U.S. government and American companies, the agency said. The designations target Andrey Zhuykov, a senior administrator with the group, along with other key members Maksim Galochkin, Maksim Rudenskiy, Mikhail Tsarev, Dmitry Putilin, Maksim Khaliullin, Sergey Loguntsov, Vadym Valiakhmetov, Artem Kurov, Mikhail Chernov and Alexander Mozhaev.

Government officials from the U.S., Australia, Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the U.K. met last week to discuss Russia-related sanctions enforcement and efforts to “bolster ongoing oligarch asset forfeiture initiatives,” the Treasury Department said. The countries, part of the multilateral Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs Task Force, said they have completed an “initial effort to map and account for Russian sovereign assets” that are frozen and held in REPO member jurisdictions, the agency said, totaling about $280 billion.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said despite the fact that Russia has managed to use ships and insurance companies from countries that didn't agree to a price cap on Russian oil sales, the sanction is working.