The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control just pulled the plug on personal remittances to Iran. As of August 24, OFAC indefinitely suspended five general licenses under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations that previously allowed Americans to send noncommercial money transfers to or from Iran.
The suspension targets Section 31 CFR 560.550, a provision that had served as the legal backbone for family remittances and other personal financial transfers involving Iran. Anyone with pending transactions gets until 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 8 to wind things down under a temporary authorization called General License BB. After that, the door shuts entirely.
Operation Economic Outcast
The remittance suspension isn’t a standalone action. It’s one component of “Operation Economic Outcast,” a broad economic pressure campaign initiated by President Trump that aims to cripple the Iranian regime’s financial infrastructure and procurement networks.
The operation includes sanctions targeting approximately 60 entities and vessels, representing one of the more aggressive coordinated sanctions packages directed at Iran in recent memory. The remittance piece, though, is what will be felt most directly by ordinary people on both sides of the transaction.
