The U.K. added eight people to its global anti-corruption sanctions regime on Nov. 21, including Isabel Dos Santos, an Azerbaijani national, for misappropriating millions of dollars while acting as head of an Angolan state oil firm and director of an Angolan telecommunications company. Angolan national Paula Cristina Oliveira was sanctioned for her role in Dos Santos' scheme, as was Portuguese national Sarju Raikundalia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European lawmakers this week called for more sanctions against Russia, saying Moscow needs to feel more pressure to withdraw from Ukraine and end the war.

The U.S. this week sanctioned six people connected to the terror group Hamas, including by helping it smuggle weapons into Gaza or for coordinating with Russia.

U.S. and U.K. officials over the past year continued to build on a partnership between their two leading sanctions agencies, including by sharing information about national security threats and ways the agencies can modernize their approaches to licensing and enforcement, they said in a joint statement released Nov. 19.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned nine people in Mexico involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, including with major drug trafficking group Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. OFAC said some of them played a “prominent role in the early stages” of the U.S. opioid crisis by smuggling drugs into America.

The U.S. this week sanctioned three entities and several people for their ties to violence in the West Bank or for undermining peace in the region, including an organization that aids Israelis previously designated by the U.S.

The EU expanded the scope of its sanctions framework on Russia to cover vessels and ports used to transfer Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles and related components for use in the war in Ukraine, the Council of the EU announced Nov. 18. The move bars the "export, transfer, supply, or sale from the EU to Iran of components used in the development and production of missiles and UAVs," the council said, and a ban on transactions with ports and locks that are owned or controlled by sanctioned parties or used to transfer Iranian UAVs, missiles or component parts to Russia.

A new U.K. general license released this week authorizes certain payments involving sanctioned Iranian airline Iran Air. The license, effective Nov. 18, allows payments that are required to "exercise Iran's right" to "overfly the United Kingdom" or "make a Stop for Non-Traffic purposes in the United Kingdom" in line with the Convention on International Civil Aviation and its Annexes. The license also allows for payments from Iran Air for "contractual obligations that arose prior to Iran Air's designation in respect of ground services or airport services in the UK," including ticket refunds from canceled flights to or from the U.K., as long as no payments are made to another sanctioned party.

MetLife is “pleased” to have reached a settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control that resulted in a $178,421 penalty for alleged sanctions violations by its subsidiary, American Life Insurance Company (see 2411140052), a MetLife spokesperson emailed Nov. 14. The spokesperson added that the insurance company holds itself to “the highest professional and ethical standard.”

Companies have not encountered any major hurdles as they seek to comply with the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s new interim final rule extending sanctions-related record-keeping requirements from five years to 10 years, according to two trade lawyers interviewed.