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The Australian Sanctions Office (ASO) is the Australian Government's sanctions regulator. The ASO was established within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 2020.
Australia's sanctions frameworks equip the Australian Government to respond flexibly and effectively to situations of international concern. Sanctions are one of the tools available to the Government to impose costs on foreign actors that behave contrary to Australian values and national interests. This includes individuals, entities, and governments that threaten international security, undermine good governance and the rule of law, and violate civil and human rights.
Sanctions help prevent funds from Australia reaching these actors. They disrupt terrorist groups, deter cyber-attacks and cybercrime, counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and signal Australia's commitment to international rules and norms.
The Government implements two types of sanctions:
- United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions, including counter-terrorism financing sanctions and country-based sanctions, in line with Australia's obligations under international law, and
- autonomous sanctions, which Australia imposes as a matter of foreign policy.
The Government implements UNSC sanctions through the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 (COTUNA) and its regulations. Autonomous sanctions are made under the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 and its regulations.
The Government's autonomous sanctions frameworks have increased in number and complexity as threats to international security and violations of norms have grown. Australia often implements autonomous sanctions in coordination with partners, as sanctions can be most effective when their impacts are amplified in this way. While sanctions frameworks, processes and legal thresholds differ between countries, and each partner maintains a unique, but complementary, set of sanctions, coordination has an amplifying effect much greater than the sum of individual actions.
The Government takes a balanced and judicious approach to ensure autonomous sanctions achieve their intended objectives while minimising secondary impacts for Australian businesses and individuals. Decisions to impose autonomous sanctions are considered carefully and on a case-by-case basis.
Sanctions frameworks in force under Australian law at the end of 2025.
Australian sanction laws implement United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions regimes and Australian autonomous sanctions regimes.
The sanctions regimes implemented under Australian sanction laws at the end of 2025 were:
UNSC sanctions
Central African Republic
Counter-Terrorism
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Iraq
ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida
Lebanon
Somalia
South Sudan and Sudan
Yemen
UNSC sanctions and autonomous sanctions
Afghanistan/the Taliban
DPRK
Iran
Libya
Syria
Autonomous sanctions
Country-specific
Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Myanmar
Russia/Ukraine
Zimbabwe
Thematic
Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
Significant cyber incidents
Serious violations or serious abuses of human rights
Serious corruption
Vessels
2025 overview
In 2025, the Government updated the COTUNA regulations to reflect the UNSC's reimposition ('snapback') of sanctions on Iran. The Government imposed financial sanctions on individuals associated with terrorist organisations, including Hamas. Under its autonomous sanctions frameworks, the Government imposed sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, human rights violations against Palestinians, cybercrime funding the DPRK's weapons program, and domestic cyber-attacks. This included Australia's first ever action against shadow fleets to prevent Russia from evading sanctions. The Government also established a pioneering framework for Afghanistan and imposed the first sanctions under that framework, targeting the Taliban.
The Government imposed 428 new autonomous sanctions in 2025, bringing the total to 2,512 (see Figure 2). The Government imposes autonomous sanctions under 14 frameworks. Some of these are thematic and address cyber incidents, corruption, or human rights abuses, for example. Others, such as those contained in the Government's new Afghanistan framework, are country specific.
The Government also continued to implement 16 UNSC sanctions frameworks in 2025, including the UNSC's 'snapback' of sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program.
By the end of 2025, the Government had imposed a total of 3,511 sanctions under both the autonomous and UNSC sanctions frameworks.
Sanctions measures include targeted financial sanctions, travel bans, vessel sanctions, as well as trade (supply and receipt) bans and restrictions on services and commercial activity.
Persons, entities and vessels listed under all autonomous frameworks as at 31 December each year
(NB: from 2017 the Australian Government has imposed sanctions on a class of Democratic People's Republic (DPRK) vessels. The Government first sanctioned individual DPRK vessels in 2015, with these sanctions subsumed into the DPRK class of vessels in 2017.)
| Year | Persons | Entities | Vessels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1724 | 588 | 200 |
| 2024 | 1590 | 497 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1596 | 452 | 0 |
| 2022 | 1418 | 274 | 0 |
| 2021 | 502 | 211 | 0 |
| 2020 | 517 | 208 | 0 |
| 2019 | 512 | 207 | 0 |
| 2018 | 502 | 207 | 0 |
| 2017 | 531 | 208 | 18 |
| 2016 | 432 | 162 | 18 |
| 2015 | 448 | 369 | 18 |
| 2014 | 447 | 370 | 0 |
| 2013 | 442 | 338 | 0 |
| 2012 | 551 | 281 | 0 |
Trends
International developments drove the Government's sanctions listings in 2025 including:
- Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine
- Iran's proliferation activities and the reimposition, or 'snapback', of UNSC sanctions on Iran
- malign cyber actors and cybercriminals' actions that harmed Australians
- the DPRK's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction
- the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, including the Taliban's continued violation of the rights, freedoms and welfare of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls
- the ongoing global threat of terrorist activity
- serious violations or abuses of human rights
Russia
In direct response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Australian Government worked with likeminded countries to impose the largest and most wide-reaching global sanctions effort of this century. The scale of international cooperation has been pivotal in preventing Russia from achieving its military and political objectives in Ukraine and constraining Russia's ability to trade and grow economically. Sanctions also contribute to holding Russia to account for its flagrant violation of international laws and norms.
Coordinated international sanctions, which continue evolving in response to Russia's evasion tactics, have sought to starve Russia of the funds needed to sustain its war and to provide support to Ukraine. They have built upon sanctions imposed on Russia following its annexation of Crimea on 18 March 2014. Current sanctions measures include bans on the import and export of a wide range of goods, bans on commercial activities, and targeted financial sanctions and travel bans targeting specific persons and entities of economic or strategic significance to Russia. This includes a total prohibition on the importation of crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas, coal, and other energy products from Russia.
The Government's sanctions targeting Russia fall under autonomous sanctions frameworks dealing with Russia and Ukraine, serious human rights violations and abuses, and significant cyber incidents.
The Government's sanctions on Russia are our most innovative, wide-ranging and multi-faceted measures to date, reflecting the scale and seriousness of Russia's breach of international law, including the UN Charter.
In 2025, the Government also imposed sanctions on so-called shadow fleet vessels for the first time, delivering three sanctions packages designating a total of 200 vessels. Russia uses shadow fleet vessels to evade sanctions and sustain its war against Ukraine. By employing deceptive practices including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems, and operating with inadequate insurance, the 'shadow fleet' enables the illicit trade of Russian oil and other sanctioned goods.
Together with likeminded partners including the US, EU, UK, Canada and New Zealand, the Government also applies an Oil Price Cap (OPC) to drive down the market value of Russian crude oil and starve the Russian war economy of oil revenue. With OPC partners, we lowered the cap to US$47.60 in 2025, putting further pressure on Russia's revenue sources. The OPC means Australian individuals and companies can only provide transport and financial services in relation to Russian-origin oil and refined petroleum products when those products are purchased by third countries below the price cap. The UK Government estimates that coordinated sanctions imposed a cost of US$450 billion on Russia from February 2022 to February 2025, including direct losses to state revenue of US$154 billion.1 Australia's sanctions have contributed to these efforts.
