Executive Order terminates U.S. Syria sanctions, export controls remain in place for now

EO terminates sanctions on Syria

On June 30, 2025, the President issued an EO terminating sanctions on Syria, in line with recent actions and statements by the Administration expressing support for the new Syrian government.¹ The Order takes the following actions according to its accompanying Fact Sheet:

• Removes sanctions on Syria (including its government and previously sanctioned parties) while re-imposing sanctions on Bashar al-Assad and his associates or entities related to them;
• Directs the Secretary of State to evaluate suspending secondary sanctions under the Caesar Act, a law that provides authority to impose measures on non-US persons engaging in activities with the Syrian government, either in whole or in part when specific criteria are met;
• Permits the relaxation of export controls on certain goods and waives restrictions on certain foreign assistance to Syria;
• Directs the Secretary of State to review the designations of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), and Ahmed al-Sharaa as a SDGT;
• Directs the Secretary of State to review Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism consistent with section 1754(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act, section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; and
• Directs the Secretary of State to explore avenues for sanctions relief at the United Nations to support stability in Syria.

Effective July 1, 2025, the EO revoked the 2004 EO 13338 that declared a national emergency with respect to Syria. It also revoked five other EOs, including EO 13399 of April 25, 2006 (Blocking Property of Additional Persons in Connection With the National Emergency With Respect to Syria), EO 13460 of February 13, 2008 (Blocking Property of Additional Persons in Connection With the National Emergency With Respect to Syria), EO 13572 of April 29, 2011 (Blocking Property of Certain Persons with Respect to Human Rights Abuses in Syria), EO 13573 of May 18, 2011 (Blocking Property of Senior Officials of the Government of Syria), and EO 13582 of August 17, 2011 (Blocking Property of the Government of Syria and Prohibiting Certain Transactions with Respect to Syria).

The EO expands the scope of the national emergency declared in EO 13894 in 2019 by amending it to further target the former Assad regime and its associates for their perpetration of war crimes, human rights abuses, and proliferation of narcotics trafficking networks.

The EO also waives application of subsection (a)(1), with respect to items on the Commerce Control List (CCL) only, and subsection (a)(2)(A) of the Syria Accountability Act (SAA), and directs the Secretary of State to submit the required congressional report under section 5(b) of the SAA. This waiver should result in in the removal of restrictions to sell or transfer items on the CCL to Syria (as well as EAR99 items). However, it is not likely that all items on the CCL will be free from licensing (for example, items controlled for National Security, Missile Technology, etc., likely will remain subject to controls once BIS amends the EAR to implement this provision). If Syria is removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, then items on the CCL that are subject to Anti-Terrorism (AT) controls only should no longer require a license for Syria, once BIS implements these changes.

Additionally, the EO waives sanctions imposed on Syria for the prior use of chemical weapons under the Assad regime pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination (CBW) Act, including:

• The restriction on foreign assistance under section 307(a)(1) of the CBW Act;
• The restriction on United States Government credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance under section 307(a)(4) of the CBW Act;
• The restrictions on the export of national security-sensitive goods and technology under section 307(a)(5) of the CBW Act and on all other goods and technology under section 307(b)(2)(C) of the CBW Act; and
• The restriction on United States banks from making any loan or providing any credit to the Government of Syria under section 307(b)(2)(B) of the CBW Act.

It directs the Secretary of State to transmit this waiver determination and report as required by sections 307(d)(1)(B) and (d)(2) of the CBW Act to Congress and declares the waiver effective 20 days after its transmittal to the appropriate congressional committees.

The EO broadly authorizes the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce to adopt rules and regulations as necessary to implement the Order.

OFAC GL 25 and response to EO

OFAC took the first step in lifting sanctions on Syria by issuing GL 25 on May 23, 2025 to authorize most of the previously prohibited transactions under the Syrian Sanctions Regulations, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations, the Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations, the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, the Foreign Terrorist Organizations Sanctions Regulations, and Executive Order 13574. We wrote in more detail about GL 25 here. However, it is no longer necessary to rely on GL 25.

On June 30, OFAC took action to implement the EO, which revoked previous EOs that placed comprehensive sanctions on Syria and expanded the national emergency declared in EO 13894 to allow for the continuation of sanctions against Bashar al-Assad, his associates, and other destabilizing regional actors. Specifically, OFAC removed 518 persons from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List who were sanctioned under the Syria sanctions program. All Syrian financial institutions, including the Central Bank of Syria, have been removed from the SDN List. It added 139 persons affiliated with the previous regime to the SDN list under the new EO in an effort to continue targeting Assad and his associates. As a result of this revocation of Syria-specific sanctions, OFAC’s GL25 is no longer needed.

OFAC published four new Syria Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to help facilitate implementation of the EO. The FAQs clarify, among other things, that individuals may send U.S.-origin food or medicine to Syria without a specific license from OFAC and that persons are not prohibited from providing financial services to Syria, processing payments on behalf of third country financial institutions involving Syrian financial institutions, or conducting transactions with the new Government of Syria and Syrian financial institutions, provided that none of the involved parties are on the SDN List.

Lastly, OFAC also plans to remove the Syrian Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations following the revocation of the various EOs that laid the foundation for the Syria sanctions program. Pending or future OFAC investigations or enforcement actions related to apparent violations of the Syrian Sanctions Regulations that occurred prior to July 1, 2025 may still be carried out.

FinCEN exception to prohibitions on Commercial Bank of Syria

On May 23, 2025, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice to provide relief under 31 U.S.C. § 5318(a)(7) and 31 C.F.R. §1010.970 pursuant to requirements under FinCEN’s rule imposing special measures against the Commercial Bank of Syria (31 C.F.R. § 1010.653).² Covered financial institutions are now permitted to open and maintain correspondent accounts for the Commercial Bank of Syria under certain conditions. We wrote in more detail about this action here. We also note that the Commercial Bank of Syria has been removed from OFAC’s SDN list.

FinCEN has not yet issued follow-up guidance pursuant to the new EO.

State Department Ceasar Act Waiver and response to EO

To support the issuance of GL 25, and to address possible secondary sanctions risks related to dealings with the Syrian government that were imposed under U.S. legislation, the State Department issued a Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (Caesar Act) Waiver Certification on May 23, 2025, in conjunction with OFAC’s GL 25, waiving the application of certain sanctions to foreign persons for 180 days. We wrote in more detail about this waiver here.

On June 30 in conjunction with the issuance of the EO, DOS issued a press statement from Secretary Marco Rubio about ending the Syria sanctions program under the Caesar Act. The Secretary promised to “examine the potential full suspension of the Ceasar Act, take all appropriate action with respect to Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and review the Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations of HTS and President al-Sharaa, as well as Syria’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.” He also stated that he will “explore avenues at the United Nations to provide further sanctions relief” to Syria.

Effective July 8, the State Department revoked HTS’s FTO designation under the Immigration and Nationality Act in response to the EO. Syria still remains a “terrorist” designated country under section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act and pursuant to Section 1754(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act, Section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and Section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 but the new EO instructs the review of such designation so it is possible that Syria will be removed from that list, which could also have implications on export controls under the EAR.

DOS also published a fact sheet about their actions to implement the EO. Specifically, it detailed how DOS waived the application of sanctions for 10 individuals and entities pursuant to section 7432(b)(1) of the Caesar Act, 3 entities that were designated pursuant to EO 13894, and 1 entity that was designated pursuant to the Iran Sanctions Act.

BIS export licensing requirements

Comprehensive export control restrictions remain in place on Syria under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has not yet acted in response to the EO. Section 6 of the EO, which waives sections (a)(1) and (a)(2)(A) of the SAA, should result in the removal by BIS of restrictions under the EAR to sell or transfer items on the CCL to Syria (as well as EAR99 items). However, it remains unclear how BIS will implement this lifting of the broad export ban, and which Country Group will Syria ultimately be added to for purposes of various CCL-related controls. As noted above, we do not believe that all items on the CCL will be license-free for Syria so NS, MT and related high level controls are likely to remain; AT-level controls only may be removed if Syria is no longer designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

BIS historically has administered an export ban under the EAR against Syria for decades, with limited exceptions including for food and medicine classified as EAR99. EAR §746.9: Syria. BIS maintains detailed guidance regarding restrictions on Syria. A license is required to export or reexport all items subject to the to Syria of other than food or medicine designated as EAR99. While there are limited license exceptions in the regulations, there historically has been a general policy of denial for exports and reexports to Syria of items subject to the EAR. In its guidance BIS states that it may review several categories of items on a case-by-case basis, including:

• Medicine on the Commerce Control List (CCL) and medical devices;
• Telecommunications equipment and associated computers, software, and technology; and
• Parts and components intended to ensure the safety of civil aviation and the safe operation of commercial passenger aircraft.

Compliance and licensing considerations

In addition to the points raised above, many companies have made representations to financial institutions and third parties about not doing business in Syria. Any such contractual representations would need to be reassessed to determine if such business could be undertaken even if lawful. Transactions related to corporate due diligence will also continue.

We note that dealings with certain SDNs even unrelated to Iran (i.e., SDNs designated under global terrorism or weapons proliferation programs), may trigger mandatory disclosure obligation in filings with the SEC. It is important to assess these disclosure obligations at the same time companies consider the compliance and licensing requirements.

Authored by Beth Peters, Ajay Kuntamukkala, Aleksandar Dukic.

Special thanks to summer associate Emma Donahue who contributed to this alert.