The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has opened a 60-day sanctions window for Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products and petroleum products, authorising transactions tied to their production, sale, delivery and offloading until 12:01 a.m. EDT on 21 August 2026, according to OFAC’s Iran General License X.
The temporary licence is a significant carve-out for shipping and energy service providers because it extends to activity involving blocked vessels where the work is ordinarily incident and necessary to the authorised cargo movements.
The authorisation explicitly covers safe docking and anchoring, crew health and safety, emergency repairs, environmental mitigation or protection, vessel management, crewing, bunkering, piloting, registration, flagging, insurance, classification and salvage.
It also permits the importation into the US of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products and petroleum products when required to complete an authorised sale, delivery or offloading.
Payments owed to Iran, the Government of Iran or any blocked person for authorised purchases may be made in US dollar-denominated funds.
The licence does not authorise transactions involving persons located in or organised under the laws of North Korea or Cuba, or entities owned or controlled by, or in a joint venture with, such persons. It also excludes transactions barred by other executive orders or OFAC regulations outside the authorities named in the licence.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is a unit of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence that administers and enforces US economic sanctions programmes.
The US Treasury Department is the federal executive department responsible for federal finances, revenue collection, economic policy and financial enforcement functions.
