WASHINGTON, September 18, 2026 — The United States has lifted sanctions imposed on several major Eritrean institutions and officials after allowing the national emergency connected to the war in northern Ethiopia to expire.
The move removes the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), Red Sea Trading Corporation and Hidri Trust from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.
Senior Eritrean officials Hagos Ghebrehiwet Weldekidan and Abraha Kassa Nemariam have also been removed.
The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 14046, issued by the Biden administration in September 2021 at the height of the war in northern Ethiopia.
Five years later, that national emergency has expired.
For Eritrea, the decision removes one of the most consequential sets of U.S. financial restrictions imposed on Eritrean state, political, military and economic institutions during the conflict.
The timing is also significant. It comes as the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region face a rapidly changing security environment and renewed diplomatic maneuvering around Eritrea, Ethiopia and the wider Red Sea.
But an important distinction remains: this does not necessarily mean that every U.S. restriction affecting Eritrea has been lifted. The action specifically ends sanctions and designations tied to Executive Order 14046.
What happened today is nevertheless significant. Institutions at the center of Eritrea’s political, defense and economic system are no longer sanctioned under the U.S. Ethiopia emergency program.
The next question is whether Washington’s decision is simply the legal consequence of allowing the emergency to expire—or the beginning of a broader shift in U.S.–Eritrea relations.
Setit Media will continue following this developing story.
