On September 18, 2026, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced the expiration of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14046 of September 17, 2021, “Imposing Sanctions on Certain Persons With Respect to the Humanitarian and Human Rights Crisis in Ethiopia” (“EO 14046”), and removed persons designated under that order from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). Concurrently, the US Department of State published a final rule (and subsequent corrections) removing Ethiopia from the proscribed country list at Section 126.1 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”). Together, these actions remove the country-specific US sanctions and defense trade restrictions adopted in connection with the conflict in northern Ethiopia.
OFAC Delistings and Removal of Ethiopia-Related Sanctions Program
The following parties, each of them Eritrean, were delisted under the ETHIOPIA-EO14046 program tag:
- People’s Front for Democracy and Justice;
- Eritrean Defense Forces;
- Red Sea Trading Corporation;
- Hidri Trust;
- Hagos Ghebrehiwet W Kidan; and
- Abraha Kassa Nemariam.
As a result of the delistings, property blocked solely pursuant to EO 14046 is no longer blocked, and transactions with the delisted parties are no longer prohibited on that basis. OFAC has also removed the program’s Frequently Asked Questions from its website and moved the Ethiopia-Related Sanctions Program to its inactive and archived programs. A delisting under one authority does not affect a party’s status under any other sanctions program, and companies should consider confirming that no separate listing applies before releasing blocked property or restoring account activity. Companies that had maintained Ethiopia-related blocks or restricted-party flags in reliance on EO 14046 should consider updating their screening lists, internal authorizations, and blocked property records accordingly.
ITAR Amendments
The State Department’s final rule took effect upon publication on September 18, 2026. It removes the Ethiopia entry at ITAR Section 126.1(n), implementing a February 5, 2026 determination by the Secretary of State that ended the policy of denial for licenses or other approvals for exports of defense articles or defense services destined for Ethiopia’s armed forces, police, intelligence, and other internal security forces. Ethiopia’s removal from ITAR Section 126.1 lifts that bar, and the policy of denial no longer applies to Ethiopia-related license applications. Exporters and brokers of defense articles and defense services should continue to apply end-use and end-user due diligence to transactions related to Ethiopia.
More broadly, the final rule revises Sections 120.15(c), 123.16, and 125.4(a) to clarify that certain ITAR prohibitions and exemptions apply not only to exports, but also to reexports, retransfers, and temporary imports of defense articles and defense services.
The rule also adds Saudi Arabia and Peru to the list of major non-NATO allies at ITAR Section 120.23 and makes clarifying revisions to the Section 126.1 entries for Libya, Somalia, and South Sudan.
