U.S. Treasury — Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

Money Moves

Issued the designations

Hizballah has learned to move money the way a smuggler moves gold: in suitcases, on passenger flights, far from any bank a regulator can reach. On August 19, the U.S. Treasury named 10 people it says run that pipeline, flying cash between Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.

Updated Yesterday

Force in Play

GL X1 expired July 17, fully restoring pre-MOU Iran sanctions; designated Supreme Leader's financier Ali Ansari and Iranian shadow exchange houses July 10; July 17 IRGC weapons procurement network designation issued alongside Treasury action

Treasury's December 2025 shadow fleet designations were the opening move in a campaign that escalated into war. The U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026, hitting Iran's nuclear facilities and military infrastructure; Treasury ran a parallel Economic Fury financial campaign through spring 2026. On June 17, Trump and Pezeshkian signed the Islamabad Memorandum, and OFAC issued General License X five days later, authorizing Iranian oil transactions through August 21.

Updated Jul 17

Rule Changes

Executing the list cleanup

The U.S. keeps a list of people, companies, and ships that American banks are barred from touching. It now holds more than 17,000 names. On July 2, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) struck 76 of them off.

Updated Jul 2

Money Moves

Imposed the June 30 sanctions

On June 30, the U.S. Treasury froze the American assets of two Mexican men and nine companies, accusing them of funneling tens of millions of dollars a year to Mexico's most powerful cartel through a fuel-smuggling ring. Mexico's financial intelligence unit moved the same day, blocking 20 entities: the 11 OFAC targets plus nine additional people and firms it identified on its own.

Updated Jul 1

Rule Changes

Operating under TFI

John Hurley served eight months as the Treasury Department's chief sanctions enforcer before resigning amid friction with Secretary Scott Bessent. His February 25 departure followed months of internal clashes over sanctions aggressiveness and a specific dispute regarding federal surveillance of financial transactions involving Minnesota's Somali community, to which Hurley objected on data-privacy grounds.

Updated May 29

Force in Play

Sanctions engine defining which ships and networks become targets

The U.S. Coast Guard is now chasing a third Venezuela-linked tanker in international waters near Venezuela—under a judicial seizure order. Two other tankers have already been stopped in the past 11 days, including one dramatic helicopter boarding that the administration amplified on social media.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Controls the sanctions licensing that can enable or block CITGO-related transactions.

CITGO has been the prize everyone can see, but almost nobody can touch. For years, a single U.S. sanctions lever has decided whether the PDVSA 2020 bond's "CITGO shares" collateral is a real hammer—or just a threat on paper.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Issued the general licenses that define what Russia-linked transactions remain legally possible

Sanctions are supposed to close doors. On December 17, the U.S. quietly propped two doors back open again, even as it slammed others shut. One narrow lane keeps Sakhalin-2 crude flowing to Japan; the other preserves financial channels for civil nuclear projects, even when payments touch sanctioned Russian banks—both running through June 18, 2026.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Designated CSRL and El Marro; expanded compliance exposure for facilitators

Treasury sanctioned the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL) and its jailed leader José Antonio Yépez Ortiz ("El Marro") on December 17, 2025. Washington's campaign against huachicol money then shifted toward the infrastructure that makes stolen hydrocarbons tradable: shipping, routing, and due diligence.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Controls the legal switch for any potash sanctions rollback

A U.S. envoy went to Minsk to talk about prisoners—and walked out with both a promise and a delivery. After John Coale's December 2025 visit with Alexander Lukashenko, Treasury's OFAC published General License 13 on December 15, authorizing transactions with Belaruskali, Belarusian Potash Company, and Agrorozkvit—no expiration date. Belarus responded by freeing 123 political prisoners, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, the regime's most valuable hostages.

Updated May 15