Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act
US statute barring government contracts, assistance, munitions sales and export licences for designated persons for two years.
The Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act was invoked again on 4 August 2026, when the State Department listed 21 foreign persons under Public Notice 13090.
Last refreshed: 6 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act
Barred US government contracts and export licences for 21 designated persons
Iran Conflict 2026: Washington reached for the weaker lawBackground
The Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA) bars US government contracts, assistance, munitions sales and export licences for two years against foreign persons found to have transferred Weapons of Mass Destruction or missile technology to or from the three named states. It is administered by the State Department's arms-control bureau on an intelligence reporting cycle, separately from the Treasury sanctions machinery that has more directly constrained Iranian shipping during the current conflict.
Because it withholds only federal procurement and export licensing rather than asset freezes or dollar-access penalties, a listing under the Act leaves foreign banks, insurers and shipowners largely untouched in a way an OFAC designation would not. That narrower reach makes it a weaker instrument than the sanctions tools more commonly used against Iran-linked networks, even though both can target the same underlying Conduct.
Washington reached for the weaker statute
On 4 August 2026 the State Department published Public Notice 13090 under this Act, listing 21 foreign persons including two Iran-linked names, with the underlying penalties backdated to take effect from 24 July. Most of the listed names sit in a Russian network accused of supplying Iran.
The Act denies its targets only US federal procurement and export licensing, not the asset freezes and dollar-access penalties that force banks and insurers to sever ties, so its use here is notably narrower than the OFAC-administered oil sanctions Washington has deployed elsewhere in the war. As the sole Iran-touching US federal instrument to publish in early August, the notice shows the interagency machinery still processing Iranian procurement traffic, but through a weaker channel than sanctions desks have used before.
What is the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act?
Who was sanctioned under INKSNA in August 2026?
How is INKSNA different from OFAC sanctions?
