On May 8, 2018, the White House announced the termination of U.S. participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. Previously suspended sanctions, particularly related to Iran’s energy, petrochemical, and financial sectors will be re-imposed subject to a wind-down periods for existing business.
The Department of the Treasury released a follow-on statement including the following:
As soon as is administratively feasible, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) expects to revoke, or amend, as appropriate, general and specific licenses issued in connection with the JCPOA. At that time, OFAC will issue new authorizations to allow the wind down of transactions and activities that were authorized pursuant to the revoked or amended general and specific licenses. At the end of the 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods, the applicable sanctions will come back into full effect.
OFAC also posted FAQs on the re-imposition of sanctions. Notably, the 90-day wind-down period that ends on August 6, 2018 includes:
ii. Activities undertaken pursuant to specific licenses issued in connection with the Statement of Licensing Policy for Activities Related to the Export or Re-export to Iran of Commercial Passenger Aircraft and Related Parts and Services (JCPOA SLP); and
iii. Activities undertaken pursuant to General License I relating to contingent contracts for activities eligible for authorization under the JCPOA SLP.
The 180-day wind-down period that ends on November 4, 2018 includes shipping, shipbuilding, petroleum, and energy sectors. Other categories of business are distributed between the two wind-down periods.
Due to the wind-down periods, sanctions and license revocations were not yet officially implemented. The full FAQs may be found here.
For ITAR purposes, Iran was and remains a prohibited destination subject to a policy of denial under Section 126.1. The Department of Commerce Export Administration Regulations (Section 746.7) include both Commerce Department and OFAC licensing requirements for Iran.