OFAC Suspended the Iran Personal Remittance License. Here Is What Families Need to Know.

Most of the coverage of Treasury’s August 24 Iran package has told readers the same thing: the personal remittance license is gone, but you have until September 8 to send money. That is not what the documents say, and the difference matters to every family that has been wiring money to a parent or sibling in Iran.

On August 24, 2026, OFAC issued a final rule staying five general licenses under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 560 (the ITSR). One of them, 31 CFR § 560.550, is the authorization that has let ordinary Americans send noncommercial, personal remittances to family in Iran for more than a decade. The rule is blunt about the effect: “any such transactions are no longer authorized by OFAC as of August 24, 2026.”

The September 8 date comes from a separate document, General License BB, and it does something much narrower than the headlines suggest. Below is what OFAC actually suspended, what General License BB really authorizes, and what your options are if you need to keep supporting family in Iran.

What OFAC Suspended on August 24, 2026

OFAC’s rule was published as a “final rule; stay of effectiveness” at 91 FR 54957 and signed by OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith. It suspends five authorizations indefinitely, effective August 24, 2026.

OFAC gave its reasons in the preamble: Iran’s “continued disruptions to global energy markets, attacks on partners and allies in the Middle East, reconstitution of its conventional and nuclear weapons programs, efforts to monetize the Strait of Hormuz, and continued support to terrorist proxies.”

The same day, OFAC also determined under section 1(a)(i) of Executive Order 13902 that sanctions now reach the aviation, digital asset, gold, shipping, and technology sectors of the Iranian economy. That determination targets commercial actors rather than families, but it came in the same package. We covered the earlier stage of this escalation when OFAC revoked Iran General License X and sanctioned the Shamkhani shipping network, and our Iran sanctions program guide tracks where the program stands now.

What § 560.550 Allowed Before It Was Suspended

The scope of the old general license still matters, because it sets the outer boundary of what the wind-down authorization can cover.

Section 560.550 authorized the transfer of funds to or from Iran, or on behalf of an individual ordinarily resident in Iran, where the transfer was a noncommercial, personal remittance. It carried conditions that many people never realized they were relying on:

• The transfer had to be processed by a U.S. depository institution or a U.S. registered broker or dealer in securities, and not by any other U.S. person.
• It could not involve debiting or crediting an Iranian account.
• It could not be by, to, or through the Government of Iran as defined in § 560.304.
• The recipient could not be a person whose property is blocked under § 560.211.

It also had firm limits. Personal remittances did not include charitable donations to or for the benefit of an entity, and did not include funds transfers used to support or operate a business — expressly including a family-owned enterprise. Sending money to help a relative keep a shop running was never covered by this general license, and charitable donations to an entity in Iran have always required a specific license.

Separately, paragraph (d) authorized a U.S. person to hand-carry funds as a personal remittance to an individual in Iran, but only funds carried on that person’s own behalf, never on behalf of someone else. That hand-carry authorization is part of § 560.550, so it is suspended along with the rest of the section.

General License BB Is a Wind-Down, Not a Grace Period

This is the point where the popular coverage goes wrong, and it is the difference between a lawful transfer and an apparent violation.

Alongside the suspension, OFAC issued General License BB, titled “Authorizing the Wind Down of Certain Transactions Previously Authorized Under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.” Its operative language authorizes all ITSR-prohibited transactions “that are ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of any transaction previously authorized by one or more of the following general licenses,” through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 8, 2026. Any payment to a blocked person must be made into a blocked, interest-bearing account located in the United States.

Read that phrase carefully: previously authorized. General License BB reaches backward, not forward. It covers the tail end of transfers that were already validly underway under § 560.550 before the suspension took effect — a wire that had left your bank but had not yet reached the beneficiary, a transfer sitting with a correspondent bank, a payment obligation already incurred.

It does not authorize you to start a new remittance between August 24 and September 8. A transfer you initiate on August 30 was never “previously authorized” under § 560.550, so there is no prior transaction for General License BB to wind down. Paragraph (b) closes the door explicitly: the general license “does not authorize any other transactions or activities prohibited by the ITSR, any other Executive order, or any other part of 31 CFR chapter V, unless separately authorized.”

Note the deadline as well. The authorization runs through 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 8, which means it effectively expires at the end of September 7, not at the end of September 8.

What This Means If You Support Family in Iran

The practical situation now breaks into three cases.

A transfer already in motion before August 24. This is the situation General License BB was written for. Finish the wind-down before 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 8 and keep documentation showing when the transfer was initiated and what steps were taken to complete it. Contemporaneous records are what allow you to demonstrate later that the transaction fell inside the authorization.

A new transfer you want to make now. There is no general license covering it. You would need a specific license from OFAC before sending funds. Proceeding without one is an apparent violation of the ITSR, and OFAC applies civil liability on a strict liability basis, so it does not have to show you meant to break the law. In its rule, OFAC also flagged that willful violations may draw criminal penalties under 50 U.S.C. 1705, which requires willfulness as an element under § 1705(c).

Recurring support you have been sending for years. This is the hardest case and the most common one. Nothing about the suspension grandfathers a recurring arrangement. Each transfer is evaluated on its own, and a standing monthly wire is not a single “previously authorized” transaction that can be wound down for years. If ongoing support is the goal, a specific license application is the route.

One caution that applies across all three: § 560.550 never permitted U.S. persons to deal directly with money service businesses or hawalas, wherever located. With the general license suspended, informal channels are not an alternative — they carry their own, often more serious, exposure.

Applying for an OFAC Specific License

A specific license is case-by-case authorization that OFAC grants in response to an application. It is the only route to a lawful personal remittance to Iran while § 560.550 remains stayed. OFAC’s own guidance directs anyone seeking to conduct activities that were previously authorized under these general licenses, and that occur after the effective date of the suspension, to request a specific license.

Applications are filed through OFAC’s licensing portal. We wrote about that system when OFAC updated its licensing application portal. A strong application generally addresses:

• Who the parties are, including confirmation that no recipient is a blocked person and that the transfer does not run to or through the Government of Iran.
• The amount and frequency requested, and why that amount is appropriate to the stated purpose.
• The payment channel, identified concretely — which U.S. institution, which foreign correspondent, and how the funds reach the beneficiary.
• The purpose of the funds, with enough detail to show the transfer is genuinely noncommercial and personal rather than business support.
• The legal and policy basis for granting the request, which is where a humanitarian or family-support rationale is developed.

OFAC reviews applications individually, and there is no published processing time. Applications that arrive incomplete tend to generate rounds of follow-up questions that add months. Our OFAC licensing attorneys prepare and file these applications, and the quality of the initial submission usually determines how long the process takes.

What Was Not Suspended

The rule stayed five specific authorizations. It did not touch the rest of the ITSR. The authorizations at 31 CFR § 560.530 covering the commercial sale and export of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Iran were not among the provisions OFAC stayed.

Do not assume the rest of the program held still, though. The Iran program has changed repeatedly through 2026, and an authorization that survived one round of tightening may not survive the next. Before relying on any remaining general license, confirm its current status directly against OFAC’s published materials, and read the conditions rather than the title.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still send money to my family in Iran until September 8, 2026?

Almost certainly not. General License BB authorizes only transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the wind down of a transaction previously authorized under § 560.550. A remittance you begin after August 24 was never previously authorized, so there is nothing to wind down. September 8 is the deadline for completing transfers already in motion.

Does the suspension apply to money coming from Iran to me?

Yes. Section 560.550 authorized personal remittances “to or from Iran,” so the suspension cuts in both directions. Receiving a personal remittance from Iran now requires authorization as well.

Can I hand-carry cash to family on a trip instead?

No. The hand-carry authorization was paragraph (d) of § 560.550, and it is suspended along with the rest of the section.

How long is the suspension going to last?

OFAC stayed the general licenses “indefinitely” and tied the action to U.S. foreign policy toward Iran. There is no expiration date and no announced review. A stay can be lifted, but nothing in the rule commits OFAC to lifting it.

My bank blocked my transfer. What happens to the money?

That depends on whether the bank blocked or rejected it, which are different outcomes with different paths to recovery. If funds are sitting in a blocked account, an unblocking application may be the route. See our guide on what to do when OFAC blocks your funds and our unblocking application practice.

Talk to an OFAC Sanctions Attorney

The suspension of § 560.550 took away the one authorization most Iranian American families relied on, and it took effect the day it was signed. Anyone with a transfer in progress has a short window to complete a wind-down. Anyone who needs to keep supporting family in Iran needs a specific license, and the application is the whole ballgame.

Sanctions Law Center is a Washington, DC firm that works exclusively on OFAC sanctions matters. We prepare specific license applications, respond to blocked and rejected transfers, and advise on the Iran program as it continues to move. If a transfer of yours has been stopped, or you need authorization to keep supporting family in Iran, contact us for a free case evaluation, or call +1 (202) 888-9011.