General License X
OFAC licence authorising Iranian oil sales and dollar payments through 21 August 2026.
OFAC revoked General License X, Iran's oil-sales waiver, on 7 July, replacing it with the wind-down-only General License X1, which itself lapsed unrenewed at 12:01am on 17 July, closing the last lawful channel for Iranian crude with no successor licence.
Last refreshed: 20 July 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
OFAC revoked Iran's oil waiver in 15 days. What happens when its wind-down expires too?
Timeline for General License X
Mentioned in: Iran's rial slides past 189,000 toman
Iran Conflict 2026Mentioned in: Wind-down licence lapses for blocked ships
Iran Conflict 2026Revoked oil waiver that GL X1 wound down
Iran Conflict 2026: Last Iran oil waiver lapses at midnightMentioned in: 140 US sorties, zero signed paper
Iran Conflict 2026Mentioned in: OFAC names Khamenei's money man in Dubai
Iran Conflict 2026Background
General License X was an OFAC licence signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, issued on 22 June 2026 to authorise the production, sale and delivery of Iranian crude oil, petrochemicals and petroleum products, permit US dollar payments to sanctioned Iranian entities, and cover the vessel services, insurance, flagging, classification, salvage and bunkering, that move that oil. It amended the Russia-related General License 134.
It sat in a distinct licensing track from its own wind-down successor General License X1, from General License Z, and from the separate GL 131 and GL 134 series governing Lukoil-related divestitures; the tracks are not interchangeable and none of the others authorised Iranian oil. GL X was the first Iran oil-sanctions relief instrument the United States signed in 116 days of war, issued under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding framework after the Burgenstock talks in Switzerland.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies found the licence carried no escrow mechanism, no value cap, no approved-buyer list and no transaction-reporting requirement, making it function less as sanctions relief than as a SAFE harbour for buyers, mostly Chinese refiners and banks, already purchasing Iranian crude through workarounds. Because it was administrative OFAC action rather than an executive order, a single Treasury notice was enough to revoke it before its scheduled 21 August expiry.
Its wind-down licence lapses unrenewed
OFAC revoked General License X early, on 7 July 2026, replacing it with a wind-down-only licence, General License X1, which permitted no new Iranian oil purchases. United Against Nuclear Iran counted 31 tankers carrying roughly 41 million barrels of Iranian oil and petrochemicals in the ten days after the Ceasefire memorandum, generating an estimated $3.5 billion for Iran, most of it bound for China.
General License X1 itself lapsed unrenewed at 12:01am on 17 July, closing the last lawful route for counterparties still holding contracts tied to crude bought under the original licence. Because the whole instrument was administrative OFAC action rather than an executive order, Washington unwound it with a single Treasury notice, cutting Japan's freshly reopened oil-purchase talks with Iran five weeks short.
Why was General License X revoked?
What is General License X and what does it allow?
How much Iranian oil has been sold since General License X was issued?
Does General License X have any controls on how Iran uses the oil money?
why did the US issue General License X?
how does General License X affect Iranian oil exports?
What happened when General License X1 expired on 17 July 2026?
