The US treasury department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued a notice of amendments to US institutions using letters of credit (L/Cs) in transactions with Iran.

This was one of several measures taken by OFAC to implement the US' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

Wind-down date

According to OFAC, L/C business with Iran has to be wound-down by 6 August 2018.

On the same date, general licenses that authorised the import of Iranian-origin carpets and foodstuffs must also be wound down.

Limited impact

The amendments primarily affect US companies - including those in the aerospace, foodstuffs, and carpets industries - as well as those with US-owned or US-controlled foreign entities.

The amendments are unlikely to have much impact on US banks that have anyhow refrained from L/C business since the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Sanctions imposed unilaterally by Washington effectively barring them from writing L/C business for Iranian transactions have never been dropped.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.