The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it has officially ended the long-standing Syria-related sanctions regime, citing political and economic reforms by the new Syrian government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
OFAC said it has renamed the “Syria-Related Sanctions Regulations” to the “Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions Regulations” and amended the framework to implement two Syria-related executive orders issued earlier this year, on January 15 and June 30, 2025.
According to the announcement on OFAC website on Wednesday, developments in the six months leading up to June 30 – including “positive actions taken by the new Syrian government” – led to the termination of the national emergency that formed the legal basis for the sanctions.
The decision took effect on July 1, 2025, and OFAC formally removed the Syrian Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations on August 26, 2025.
The Syria-Related Sanctions Regulations were the U.S. Treasury’s framework for enforcing sanctions on Syria, laying out which individuals, entities, and sectors were blocked, how transactions were restricted, and how licenses and penalties were applied.
The rules were built on U.S. national emergency and a series of executive orders targeting the Assad-era government, senior officials, financiers, and networks tied to weapons, oil, and other regime revenue sources.
They imposed sweeping bans on exports, investment, and many financial transactions, with only narrow exceptions, such as licensed humanitarian aid and certain NGO activities, allowed under strict U.S. oversight.
