Can You Sell Software Licenses or SaaS Solutions to Iran?

Question

I just had a customer reach out to me from Iran and I use a US corporation for my business and I know that the US has sanctions against doing business in Iran so I was wondering can you sell software to Iran or people or businesses in Iran?I did a bit of research online but I couldn't really make sense of it and I was wondering if people here nkew clearly the answer.

troydavis · Accepted Answer

(I am not a lawyer. In a past life, I ran SaaS and needed to know the basics about this)
> can you sell software to Iran or people or businesses in Iran?
No. OFAC prohibits essentially all transactions that involve or pass through Iran. For an exception, you'd need to either apply for an OFAC License (https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/... under "Applying for a Specific OFAC License"), or be covered in one of the "General Licenses," which are listed on the same page.
The general licenses are basically humanitarian and ways for Iranians to communicate with the outside world (example: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/iran_gld1.pdf). Even if you thought you were covered, the only way to be (relatively) sure would be to ask an OFAC compliance attorney.

Alex192 · Answer

If you care for them you could just charge them for free, you can’t be paid by them nor lose anything from them using it anyway (at least for the non-SaaS applications) so why bother?
I know it sounds ridiculous, but idk maybe we should just start somewhere to stop sanctioning.
What’s more ridiculous is that one the main reason US is sanctioning Iran is for its nuclear blah blah (and the fear for using it) while on the other hand US was the only country that ruthlessly bombed Hiroshima and its civilian’s to dust…
Now everyone (most people) think US is the good guy while they’re being misguided by mass media companies, why? Because they’re owned by US, why? Because US has money (mostly debts…)
Some of my family members still live in Iran and they’re so annoyed from the whole sanctioning shit, these were only some of there complaint’s from the US government…

atlasunshrugged · Answer

I believe no based on my limited knowledge and a quick googling and more than that I think you'd find it nearly impossible to get paid through the traditional financial sector as I don't think any banks will let you send/receive funds from Iran.https://www.hugheshubbard.com/news/united-states-new-u-s-ira...