General License Z

General License Z is a narrow OFAC authorisation issued on 14 July 2026, permitting wind down activities, limited safety and environmental transactions, and the offloading of cargo tied to persons or vessels blocked in that SAME day's designation round. That round designated Bank Markazi (the Central Bank of Iran) alongside a batch of vessels, so GL Z exists purely to prevent stranded cargo, crews and safety hazards on assets that were sanctioned overnight, not to reopen any market.

GL Z is a standard grace-period licence, and traders should not conflate it with the broader Iranian oil relief. General License X, issued 21 June 2026, had permitted transactions in Iranian crude, petrochemicals and petroleum products; OFAC revoked it on 7 July following renewed shipping attacks and replaced it with General License X1, a short wind-down authorisation for GL X activity expiring 12:01am Eastern on 17 July. GL Z is a separate, later instrument tied only to the 14 July blockings.

For sanctions-compliance and freight desks the distinction matters operationally: GL X1 covers unwinding a now-revoked general oil licence, while GL Z covers SAFE offloading and wind-down for specific newly-designated vessels and Bank Markazi-linked property. Treating the two as interchangeable risks either an unauthorised transaction or an unnecessarily stalled cargo.

Both grace periods proved short-lived. General License Z itself lapsed on 17 July 2026, the same day General License X1 expired unrenewed, closing both escape hatches for lawful disengagement on the same day. Counterparties still holding contracts tied to the 14 July blocked vessels, including a Greek owner, a Singaporean bunker supplier and a Dubai trading desk, were Left with no authorised route to unwind them, and OFAC published no successor authorisation.