Defense and national security

Executive Order 13949: Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to the Conventional Arms Activities of Iran

President: Donald J. Trump

Authorized property blocking and entry restrictions for people Treasury or State determined to be involved in specified Iranian conventional-arms activities.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13949 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13949 remains part of the Iran sanctions framework. The March 2, 2026 presidential notice expressly listed it among the measures under the national emergency continued for one year beyond March 15, 2026. See Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Iran.

What does Executive Order 13949 do?

EO 13949 authorized sanctions against persons involved in specified Iranian conventional-arms transactions.

Later primary evidence reviewed September 24, 2026: A later presidential notice continued the Iran national emergency and expressly listed this order among its measures; that does not establish any particular designation. Official source. The cited steps do not establish every downstream effect.

Administration position: Any policy rationale or projected benefit in the order is the administration’s position. This index record does not treat those claims as independently established facts.

The order establishes criteria for blocking property linked to specified persons, including arms and spare-parts transfers, related training or services, and certain proliferation activities. The financial effect concerns property within the United States or U.S.-person possession or control; section 2 extends the prohibition to specified contributions and receipts. It is not simply a declaration that an international embargo exists. The entry suspension in section 3 is a separate consequence with its own U.S.-interest exception process. EO 13949, sections 1–3.

Its boundaries matter for ordinary trade and humanitarian activity. Section 9 excludes conducting or facilitating the provision of agricultural commodities, food, medicine or medical devices to Iran from this order’s application to a person. Section 10 preserves covered U.S. government and United Nations official business by their employees, grantees and contractors. Section 1(c) also excludes the specified Iranian-government property previously blocked under EO 12170 and then made subject to EO 12281’s transfer directives. These are limits in this instrument, not a finding that a transaction satisfies every other sanctions or export-control rule. EO 13949, sections 1(c), 9–11.

There is evidence of actual use beyond the original authorization. A State Department notice published April 1, 2024 records designations made on October 16, 2023: six entities under EO 13949 and two individuals under the different EO 13382. Confusing the publication date with the designation date would move that event by months. Treasury’s October 18, 2023 release separately identifies Qods Aviation Industries and Ghasem Damavandian under EO 13949, while using other authorities for other named parties. A mixed-authority sanctions announcement does not put every person in it under this one order. State notice, dates and authority-specific lists; Treasury release, QAI section.

The March 2, 2026 continuation notice expressly lists EO 13949 among the measures under the Iran emergency declared in 1995 and continues that emergency for one year beyond March 15, 2026. The notice distinguishes it from the separate 1979 hostage-crisis emergency. This supports the continuing framework stated above, not a conclusion that every historical designee remains listed today or that every international restriction has the same legal basis. The current official sanctions records and applicable authorizations remain necessary for a particular transaction. March 2, 2026 notice, published March 5.

SignedSeptember 21, 2020
IssuerPresident Donald J. Trump
TermFirst presidential term
EO 13949 State and Treasury designation roles, property and entry consequences, and express exceptions
Original source-based diagram. The order’s criteria and exceptions are not a substitute for current official designation and authorization records. EO 13949, sections 1–3 and 8–10.

Before and after

Before the order

Earlier Iran emergency orders supplied sanctions authority before these arms-transaction criteria.

After the order

A later presidential notice continued the Iran national emergency and expressly listed this order among its measures; that does not establish any particular designation.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
State Secretary: principal arms criteriaDetermine covered persons under the arms-transfer, technical/financial assistance and proliferation-risk criteria, consulting Treasury.Section 1(a)(i)–(iii): determination-based; no numerical designation deadline.
Treasury Secretary: support/relationship criteriaDetermine persons materially supporting a blocked person or owned/controlled by or acting for a blocked person, consulting State.Section 1(a)(iv)–(v): determination-based; no numerical designation deadline.
State Secretary: entry provisionsImplement the entry suspension and determine U.S.-interest exceptions under the stated procedures. Consult Homeland Security on admissibility matters within its authority.Section 3: applies to aliens determined to meet section 1(a) criteria; no universal numerical visa-decision deadline.
Attorney GeneralMay recommend that a person’s entry would further important U.S. law-enforcement objectives, for State’s exception determination.Section 3: recommendation route, not an automatic exception or independent numerical deadline.
Homeland Security SecretaryConsult with State on admissibility/inadmissibility matters within Homeland Security’s authority.Section 3: consultation role; not the principal section 1 financial-designation decision-maker.
Treasury Secretary, consulting StateTake necessary implementation actions, including rules/regulations and delegated IEEPA powers; may lawfully redelegate within Treasury.Section 8: no numerical rulemaking deadline. The authority is not evidence every possible implementing measure was issued.
All U.S. departments and agenciesTake appropriate implementation measures within their lawful authority.Section 8: continuing direction bounded by agency authority and section 12’s law/appropriations provisions.
U.S. persons and persons handling covered propertyDo not transfer or deal in property blocked under section 1; observe the order’s contribution/receipt and anti-evasion prohibitions, subject to its actual exceptions.Sections 1–4: property in U.S. jurisdiction or U.S.-person possession/control; prior contracts do not themselves override the prohibitions. No new numerical filing deadline appears in these provisions.

The split between State’s section 1(a)(i)–(iii) determinations and Treasury’s section 1(a)(iv)–(v) determinations is substantive. It should not be reduced to an instruction that Treasury independently decide every arms-transfer case. Nor does a “no numerical deadline” entry mean a covered transaction may continue until an agency chooses a future date. Signed sections 1–3 and 8.

What happened next

Executive Order 13949 signed.

The Federal Register published the September 21 order. Its signed text assigns different primary designation criteria to State and Treasury. Official source.

State made six EO 13949 entity designations later recorded in its April 1, 2024 notice. Two individuals in that same notice were designated under EO 13382 instead. Official source.

Treasury’s announcement identified Qods Aviation Industries and Ghasem Damavandian under EO 13949; it used other authorities for other parties in the release. Official source.

The Federal Register published State’s notice of the October 16, 2023 designations. This publication was not a new EO or a general implementing regulation. Official source.

The President continued the 1995 Iran emergency for one year beyond March 15, 2026, expressly listing EO 13949. The notice was published March 5 and distinguishes the 1979 emergency. Official source.

Later primary evidence reviewed: A later presidential notice continued the Iran national emergency and expressly listed this order among its measures; that does not establish any particular designation.