U.S. Treasury removes 76 outdated sanctions targets from OFAC list

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Treasury removes 76 OFAC targets

Highlights

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has removed 76 outdated entries from the OFAC SDN List, including deceased individuals and obsolete entities.
Annual new OFAC sanctions listings have risen from 880 in 2017 to over 3,000 in 2024, increasing compliance costs for businesses screening potential targets.
Treasury is reviewing older sanctions programs lacking measurable outcomes to better align OFAC actions with current U.S. economic and national security priorities.

Sanctions modernization and removals

As reported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is taking 76 entries off the SDN List as part of an ongoing review of outdated sanctions targets. The removals include deceased individuals, scrapped or decommissioned vessels, parties linked to illicit financial networks that no longer exist, and people designated more than 10 years ago who lack sufficient identifiers and do not appear to pose an ongoing threat.

Treasury says each entry undergoes an interagency vetting process to confirm that removal does not undermine U.S. foreign policy or national security interests. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent recently discussed the broader modernization push at the No Money For Terror conference in Paris, where he said sanctions should remain targeted, effective and aligned with U.S. economic, foreign policy and national security priorities.

Compliance burden and policy impact

Treasury says the expansion of sanctions activity in recent years has increased screening demands for businesses, with annual new listings rising from 880 in 2017 to more than 3,000 in 2024. The department says companies often spend significant resources reviewing low-risk matches and false positives, which can divert attention from more complex sanctions evasion risks.

The department is also reviewing sanctions programs that have not produced measurable outcomes or no longer support U.S. national security priorities, while prioritizing measures with clearer economic and security effects. Treasury says the credibility of OFAC sanctions depends not only on adding names to the list, but also on removing them when warranted and consistent with the law.

Our earlier coverage of U.S.–Iran ceasefire talks highlighted how reports of a proposed 60-day memorandum of understanding helped ease oil prices after a period of heightened tensions. The piece also noted that the conflict and perceived risks to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had been a key driver of market volatility, with any sign of de-escalation quickly feeding into crude benchmarks.

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