Data-Driven Updates Ensure Sanctions Remain Targeted, Effective, and Current
WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took the second major action in its sanctions modernization efforts, announced by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent in May. Today’s action removed 84 individuals and entities and improved identifying information for 22 list entries to facilitate compliance.
Those removed from OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) today include individuals and entities no longer considered U.S. national security or foreign policy priorities: some deceased individuals, defunct entities, and targets sanctioned more than 20 years ago, some of whom lack sufficient information for effective compliance screening. As with any removal from its sanctions lists, OFAC conducted appropriate interagency review to ensure that such removal would not harm U.S. foreign policy or national security interests.
PRIORITIZING SANCTIONS IMPACT AND SUCCESS
As Secretary Bessent has outlined, the goal of Treasury’s sanctions modernization effort is to ensure U.S. sanctions remain targeted, effective, and aligned with U.S. economic, foreign policy, and national security priorities. The Trump Administration is measuring the success of its sanctions in terms of effect, impact, and benefit—not just based on the number of names Treasury places on a list.
APPLYING MODERN STANDARDS TO SANCTIONS DATA
OFAC’s sanctions review has thus far prioritized scrutiny on older sanctions entries, which sometimes lack identifying information that is now routine for new sanctions actions. While OFAC identified some such entries as appropriate for removal, in some cases, updating list entries by adding identifiers (e.g., place and date of birth, unique identification numbers, nationality, or gender) is more appropriate. With the inclusion of more robust identifying information, compliance-related screening of these names will prove less burdensome for financial institutions.
OFAC also identified a small number of duplicate entries on its sanctions lists, where the same person or property was inadvertently included more than once under separate list entries. Today’s action resolves 18 sets of duplicates by removing extra entries and updating relevant identifiers.
TREASURY MODERNIZES DELISTING PROCESS WITH RECONSIDERATION PORTAL
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to sanction individuals, entities, and their identified property, but also from its willingness to remove them from OFAC’s sanctions lists, when appropriate and consistent with the law.
On June 29, 2026, as part of Treasury’s ongoing sanctions modernization efforts, OFAC launched an online portal that streamlines the process to request removal for persons and property (via authorized representative) added to an OFAC sanctions list.
The Reconsideration Portal enables persons and property on an OFAC sanctions list—or their authorized representatives—to submit delisting petitions and request certain information underlying their sanctions determinations. To streamline the petitions process, the portal asks for the key biographic and baseline information required to efficiently adjudicate petitions. It also provides important guidance on how petitioners should organize their submissions as they seek to demonstrate either an insufficient basis for designation or a change in circumstances to satisfy the requirements for removal, as described in 31 C.F.R. § 501.807.
For information on the process for seeking removal from an OFAC sanctions list, including the SDN List, please refer to How to Request Removal from an OFAC Sanctions List | Office of Foreign Assets Control.
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