Home / Actions / 2026-06-21-us-ofac-iran-gl-x-x1-oil-relief-revoked

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US OFAC issues Iran-related General License X — broad Iranian oil-sales authorization revoked 16 days later by General License X1

Sanction↑ Liberalising🇺🇸 US · OFAC✎ 2026-10-04

announced 21 Jun 2026

effective 21 Jun 2026

targets 🇮🇷 IR

sectors oil-gas refining

materials ⛏ crude-oil ⛏ petroleum-products

/ 5

Amended, was 3

Issuer

🇺🇸 US

Targets

1 jurisdiction

Status

Expired

Sourcing

🟢 primary-OJ 3 primary

🇺🇸 US issued this sanction measure targeting 1 jurisdiction, touching oil-gas, refining. It reads as liberalising and has been amended since announcement — current severity (3) reflects the latest revision. settling — 1 amendment, median lag d.

RBI 1quant 1 · $1B📍 settlingetf: USO XLE

#1most-frequent issuer · 581 of 2662 actions (22%)

🇮🇷 IRtargeted 54× before18 May 2026

Most affected — bilateral-trade weighted

🇮🇷 IR$1bn 2-way trade with issuer

🇮🇷 IR$1bn3

Amendment timeline

faster than 87%

1median lag 16d since 2026-06-21

Last amendment: OFAC issues General License X1, revoking and superseding General License X. New purchases or loadings of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products, or petroleum products are no longer authorized under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations, or the WMD-proliferation sanctions authorities referenced by GL X. GL X1 itself subsequently expired. on 2026-07-07.

Full amendment logShow

2026-07-07
OFAC issues General License X1, revoking and superseding General License X. New purchases or loadings of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products, or petroleum products are no longer authorized under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations, the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations, or the WMD-proliferation sanctions authorities referenced by GL X. GL X1 itself subsequently expired.
ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260707

Exemptions / carve-outs

1conditions under which the action does not apply

General License X — Iranian oil-sales authorization (2026-06-21 to 2026-07-07)

Temporarily authorized transactions otherwise prohibited under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 560), Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 587), Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 589), and WMD-proliferation sanctions authorities — including new purchases and loadings of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical, and petroleum products. Revoked after 16 days by GL X1.

Downstream sectors — supply-chain propagation

1sectors reached via adjacency, not directly targeted

oil-and-gas5.5

Downstream-affected countries

5sector × concentration, not directly targeted

2 moreShow

ETF cross-impact

20sector-exposure-weighted

17 moreShow

Causal links — explicit responds-to graph

22 responds to · 0 responded by

US OFAC issues Iran-related General License U — temporary authorization to sell and import Iranian-origin crude already loaded on vessels↩ responds tosev 3

US NSPM-2 — Restoring Maximum Pressure on the Government of Iran↩ responds tosev 5

Theme momentum

1themes this action belongs to

US Iran maximum-pressure architecture

7 filings in 90d

↓ cooling

On June 21, 2026, OFAC issued Iran-related General License X (GL X), authorizing transactions otherwise prohibited under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 560), the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 587), the Ukraine-/Russia-Related Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR part 589), and WMD-proliferation sanctions authorities — including new purchases and loadings of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical, and petroleum products, a materially broader carve-out than the cargo-already-loaded window granted by the preceding General License U. Just 16 days later, on July 7, 2026, OFAC issued General License X1, revoking and superseding GL X: as of that date new purchases or loadings of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical, or petroleum products were no longer authorized. GL X1 itself subsequently expired. OFAC formally published both web licenses in the Federal Register on September 30, 2026 — a retrospective publication of licenses already issued and, by then, already revoked and expired.

Analyst notesShow

Mechanism

GL X marks the widest point so far in the GL U → GL X → GL Y/Z → GL AA/BB → GL CC/DD sequence of Iran-oil relief valves: where GL U (March 20, 2026) authorized only the completion of sales on cargo already loaded onto vessels, GL X extended to new purchases and loadings — the first time this maximum-pressure architecture (NSPM-2, Feb 4, 2025) permitted fresh transactions in Iranian crude rather than merely unwinding a pre-existing pipeline backlog. That breadth did not last: GL X1, issued just 16 days later on July 7, 2026, revoked GL X outright and shut the door on new purchases again. The GL U file's open question — "whether GL X … and the underlying talks it references are already filed in this register" — is resolved here: GL X existed, and its own supersession is the headline, not an unrelated talks-driven event. As with GL U, OFAC did not publish either license in the Federal Register until well after both had run their course (September 30, 2026, nearly three months after GL X1's issuance).

Downstream implications

Extends the GL U → GL X → GL Y/Z → GL AA/BB → GL CC/DD escalation-of-

relief chain with its first rapid reversal: a 16-day round-trip from broad relief to full revocation signals the maximum-pressure architecture is being tested and pulled back under real-time pressure, not loosened on a stable trajectory.

Because both GL X and GL X1 were already revoked/expired well before

their Federal Register publication, no live compliance obligation currently attaches to either; filed here for corpus completeness and to close the GL U file's open question.

filing — that reflects a gap in what we had tracked, not the absence of the license itself.

Open questions

What specific event (talks collapse, verification dispute) triggered

the July 7 revocation 16 days after GL X's issuance — no primary source located in this pass discloses the trigger.

Whether GL X1's own expiry date is documented anywhere beyond "has

expired" in the September 30, 2026 Federal Register notice.

Sources

Primary: Federal Register — Publication of Iran-Related Web General Licenses X and X1 (FR Doc 2026-20010, 2026-09-30) · OFAC Recent Actions — Issuance of Iran-related General License (June 22, 2026) · OFAC Recent Actions — Issuance of Amended Iran-related General License (July 7, 2026)

Secondary: National Law Review — OFAC Issues General License X1, Withdrawing General License X's Grant of Broad Sanctions Relief on Iran's Oil and Petroleum Sector · National Law Review — OFAC Revokes Iran General License X: a Stark Reminder That Evolving Sanctions Require Continuous Vigilance

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Mechanism

Downstream implications

Extends the GL U → GL X → GL Y/Z → GL AA/BB → GL CC/DD escalation-of-

Because both GL X and GL X1 were already revoked/expired well before

their Federal Register publication, no live compliance obligation currently attaches to either; filed here for corpus completeness and to close the GL U file's open question.

filing — that reflects a gap in what we had tracked, not the absence of the license itself.

Open questions

What specific event (talks collapse, verification dispute) triggered

the July 7 revocation 16 days after GL X's issuance — no primary source located in this pass discloses the trigger.

Whether GL X1's own expiry date is documented anywhere beyond "has

expired" in the September 30, 2026 Federal Register notice.