Treasury Sanctions Office Blocks New Entities and Vessels Under Iran Order

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added new entities and vessels to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), blocking all their property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The action was issued on October 8, 2026, and published in the Federal Register of October 14, 2026, Vol. 91, No. 197, pages 65295 to 65302, under document 2026–20994. The notice cites Executive Order 13902 as the legal authority for the designations.

The document, headed “Notice of OFAC Sanctions Action,” states that OFAC is publishing the names of one or more persons placed on the SDN List “based on OFAC’s determination that one or more applicable legal criteria were satisfied.” It adds that the vessels placed on the list “have been identified as property in which a blocked person has an interest.” The notice is signed by Bradley T. Smith, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and was filed for publication on October 13, 2026.

What the designation does

• All property and interests in property of the designated persons that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked.
• U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the designated persons.
• Vessels added to the SDN List are treated as property in which a blocked person has an interest.
• The listing is organised in two blocks, headed “Entities” and “Vessels.”

Legal basis, dates and official references

• Authority: Executive Order 13902, the order imposing sanctions with respect to additional sectors of Iran (85 FR 2003).
• Action issued: October 8, 2026.
• Publication: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 197, October 14, 2026, Notices section.
• Official document number: 2026–20994.
• The SDN List and further information on OFAC sanctions programmes are available at https://ofac.treasury.gov.
• OFAC contact lines: Global Targeting, 202–622–2420; Licensing, 202–622–2480; Sanctions Compliance, 202–622–2490.

Who is affected

The blocking reaches any property or interest in property of the designated parties that falls under U.S. jurisdiction, which means banks, brokers, insurers, freight operators and trading counterparties outside the United States can be exposed whenever a payment, cargo, charter or insurance contract touches U.S. dollars, U.S. financial institutions or U.S.-jurisdiction assets. The notice states that U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the listed parties, so compliance screening and payment filtering must be updated against the revised SDN List.

The designations also carry a maritime dimension: because the vessels named in the notice are identified as property in which a blocked person has an interest, shipowners, managers, flag registries and port agents face the same blocking consequences as those dealing with the listed entities themselves. The notice does not publish any exemption, licence or wind-down period, and it directs readers to OFAC’s website for the current list and related sanctions information.

The publication is the formal record of a decision taken six days earlier, on October 8, 2026, and it is the reference that financial institutions and their advisers will use to justify freezing, rejecting or unwinding affected transactions. For readers, the practical effect is immediate: any counterparty appearing in the newly published entries of the SDN List must be treated as blocked, and any dealing with their property or interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction is prohibited unless authorised by OFAC.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 197, 14 October 2026, Notices, pp. 65295–65302 (official reference: 2026–20994).