Overview
- The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control formally delisted several Eritrean entities on September 18, 2026, after the legal authority used for the 2021 sanctions was allowed to expire.
- The removal covers the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the Eritrean Defense Forces, the Red Sea Trading Corporation, the Hidri Trust, and named individuals including Hagos Ghebrehiwet Woldekidan and Abraha Kassa.
- Officials framed the decision as a security-driven pivot because Eritrea sits on the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb shipping corridor that links the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean.
- Taking the Red Sea Trading Corporation off the SDN list reopens formal channels for trade, banking and potential investment, though banks are likely to keep strict checks on Eritrean deals for some time.
- Human-rights groups warn that lifting sanctions without enforceable reforms risks rewarding an opaque government with indefinite national service, and there was no immediate public response from Asmara to the delisting.