"Sanction" is an odd word. As a verb, it means to approve, permit or authorize. As a noun (usually as a plural), it means measures used to punish a country, a university's athletic program or an organization.This headline from the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., and another in the sports section of The News & Observer ("NCAA sanctions Kansas") blur this distinction. Yes, some dictionaries allow "sanction" to be used as a verb to mean "to impose sanctions," but the word loses its other definition if we allow that.
Or is this a losing battle?
Does it really lose the other meaning? I think context would allow both to coexist, as both meanings do for "cleave", or any of the dozens of other auto-antonyms English has. One would sanction a country or government in the "impose sanctions on" meaning, but an action in the "allow" meaning. I don't think there would be many cases where true confusion would occur.