What is the US Treasury Department?: The US Department of the Treasury, founded in 1789, is America's principal federal economic and financial agency. It collects taxes, manages government debt, and through OFAC administers economic sanctions.
Did the US Treasury renew the Iran oil waiver in April 2026?: No. On 19 April 2026 OFAC allowed General License U to lapse with no renewal. It had authorised 325 tankers carrying roughly $31.5 billion of Iranian crude already at sea.Source: US Treasury
Why did Treasury extend the Russia oil waiver but not Iran's?: On 19 April 2026 Treasury signed an extension of Russia's seaborne-oil General License 134B to 16 May while letting Iran's General License U lapse on the same day. It was the first asymmetry in signed US sanctions text between the two programmes.Source: US Treasury
What is OFAC and how does it enforce sanctions?: The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the Treasury division that administers US economic and trade sanctions. It designates individuals, entities, and countries, freezes assets, and can grant limited waivers through instruments like General Licenses.
Why did Treasury summon bank CEOs about an AI model?: Scott Bessent and Jerome Powell summoned bank CEOs on 8 April 2026 after Anthropic released Claude Mythos Preview, an AI capable of autonomously identifying thousands of zero-day security vulnerabilities. It was the first Treasury convening of Wall Street specifically over a frontier AI system.Source: editorial
What is General License U and why did it lapse?: General License U (GL-U) was an OFAC authorisation covering 325 tankers and approximately $31.5 billion of Iranian crude already at sea. It lapsed at 00:01 EDT on 19 April 2026 with no renewal and no Federal Register notice after Treasury Secretary Bessent announced the decision on cable television. No replacement instrument was issued.Source: OFAC / Federal Register
Why did the US extend Russia's oil waiver while cutting Iran's on the same day?: On 19 April 2026, OFAC let Iran's GL-U lapse and simultaneously extended Russia's GL-134B seaborne-oil waiver to 16 May. This produced the first Russia-yes, Iran-no asymmetry in signed US sanctions policy text, reflecting different market management priorities — Russia's crude was deemed necessary to cap global prices above Iranian crude.Source: OFAC
What OFAC sanctions have targeted Iran in 2026?: OFAC designated the Hengli Petrochemical network and 39 entities under sb0472 with first nuclear framing on 24 April; designated 14 Iran missile and drone targets under NSPM-2 in the fifth nonproliferation round; named Indian nationals and firms in the Shamkhani network on 15 April; and issued General License V covering TRON wallets. The White House signed zero presidential Iran instruments across the same period.Source: OFAC
What is the Adani $275 million OFAC settlement about?: OFAC posted a $275 million settlement with Adani Enterprises on 18 May 2026 for 32 Iran-LPG sanctions violations. It is the largest commodity-chain enforcement action of the 2026 cycle and sets the prosecution benchmark for buyers who completed in-transit cargoes under lapsed waivers.Source: OFAC
Why did the US Treasury not issue a General License 134C?: Treasury explicitly ruled out GL 134C following GL 134B's expiry on 16 May 2026. The non-renewal follows the same deliberate pattern as the April lapse of GL-U for Iranian crude, signalling policy intent rather than administrative delay.Source: US Treasury
How does OFAC enforce sanctions on European companies dealing in Russian oil?: OFAC issues civil money penalties for sanctions violations; the Adani $275m settlement (32 violations, May 2026) is the current enforcement benchmark. European maritime insurers, traders, and vessel managers face exposure once waiver cover lapses.Source: OFAC
What does Scott Bessent's Treasury policy mean for oil markets in 2026?: Bessent has pursued asymmetric enforcement: extending Russian crude waivers while cutting Iranian ones, then allowing Russian waivers to lapse in May 2026 while posting the Adani Iran-LPG settlement. The direction of travel is toward base-regime enforcement rather than managed tolerance.Source: US Treasury
What is OFAC General Licence 134C and when does it expire?: GL 134C, signed 18 May 2026, extends vessel-services cover for Russian crude loaded by 17 April. It expires 12:01 EDT on 17 June 2026 with no GL 134D announced as of 4 June.Source: OFAC
What was the Adani OFAC settlement and why does it matter for European oil traders?: OFAC fined Adani Enterprises $275 million for 32 Iran-LPG sanctions violations in May 2026, the largest commodity-chain enforcement action of the year. It sets the prosecution benchmark for European traders holding Russian cargoes loaded under lapsed waivers.Source: OFAC

Background

The US Department of the Treasury, founded in 1789 and led by Secretary Scott Bessent since 2025, is Washington's principal economic and financial agency. Its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers economic sanctions, making it one of the most consequential levers of American Foreign Policy outside direct military action. In 2026 Treasury is running three major sanctions programmes in parallel (Iran, Russia, Venezuela) while managing the financial stability risks of frontier AI deployment and adjudicating wartime waivers that move billions of barrels of crude.

The headline April 2026 signal is asymmetric sanctions enforcement. On 19 April OFAC allowed General License U (covering 325 tankers and roughly $31.5 billion of already-loaded Iranian crude) to lapse with no renewal, while on the same calendar day extending Russia's seaborne-oil General License 134B to 16 May. Bessent had signalled the GL-U lapse on cable television three days earlier and simultaneously confirmed Russia's GL-134A waiver, worth roughly $150 million a day in Russian crude trade, would not be renewed. This produced the first signed Russia-yes, Iran-no asymmetry in US sanctions policy text. By Day 59 of the Iran war (27 April), OFAC had issued multiple Iran instruments — designating the Hengli Petrochemical network and sanctioning 14 entities under NSPM-2 — while the White House presidential-actions index recorded zero presidential Iran instruments.

Treasury's reach extends further. On 18 March 2026 it issued a broad licence permitting PDVSA to sell Venezuelan crude to global markets while explicitly excluding Cuba; a narrow follow-up on 25 March opened Venezuelan oil to Cuban private-sector buyers only. OFAC used the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act for the first time in a cyber matter in April 2026, sanctioning the Operation Zero vulnerability broker. On 8 April Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned bank CEOs to discuss frontier AI systemic risk. The department is simultaneously prosecuting sanctions against two adversaries, relaxing others to prevent crude above $105 from tipping the US into recession, and serving as the institutional convener for AI systemic-risk assessment.

Treasury is the primary sanctions authority shaping European oil market structure across all five updates in the european-oil-markets series. GL 134B expired at 12:01 ET on 16 May 2026 with no successor, ending the 30-day rolling waiver architecture that had provided legal certainty for shadow-fleet vessel-services providers completing Russian crude cargoes. European P&I clubs and maritime insurers lost their OFAC safe harbour from that date forward.

GL 134C, signed by OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith on 18 May 2026, restored in-transit vessel-services cover for Russian crude loaded by 17 April, providing a further 30-day bridge to the Lukoil ISAB sale process. GL 134C carried an explicit Cuba carve-out, stranding nine SDN-listed cargoes outside any authorisation envelope. On 28 May, OFAC issued GL 131F superseding GL 131E, resetting the ISAB transaction clock to 27 June and allowing Ludoil Energy's two-phase acquisition to proceed under a separate transaction licence.

The Adani $275 million settlement for 32 Iran-LPG violations, posted 18 May 2026, is the enforcement benchmark European traders must now price when assessing residual exposure from Russian cargoes loaded before the GL 134B expiry. As of Update #5 (4 June), GL 134C expires at 12:01 EDT on 17 June with no GL 134D announced, a 13-day cliff that is the live compliance hinge for European maritime insurers and trading desks.

Source Material

Office of Foreign Assets Control — US Treasury OFAC official website US issues sanctions waivers for Russian oil tankers OFAC Sanctions Programs and Information United States Department of the Treasury — Wikipedia U.S. Department of the Treasury — Official Website