The United States imposed new restrictions on Sudan's military-led government on July 20, 2026, citing a determination that government forces used chemical weapons during the country's civil war. The measures limited access to US financing and exports and barred Sudanese state-owned airlines from American airspace.
The State Department had announced the previous month that it concluded Sudan's government used chemical weapons in 2024 in breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Sudan ratified in 1999. Washington did not publicly identify the location or timing of the alleged attacks, or specify the substance involved, according to the published report.
Sudan's army-aligned authorities rejected the accusation before the measures took effect, calling it baseless as well as unilateral and illegal. The allegation therefore remained contested, and the published account did not include a public US account establishing the underlying details.
Separate media investigations have identified chlorine as the suspected agent. The New York Times, relying on four unnamed senior US officials, reported that army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan directly approved its use. France 24 reported a September 2024 incident at the al-Jaili oil refinery, located north of Khartoum. It said two chlorine-gas barrels were dropped while the rival Rapid Support Forces controlled the area. France 24 said its finding drew on open-source information, social-media video and analysis by five experts. Those reports were allegations, not findings presented by Sudan or an international court.
Sudan's armed forces have faced previous chemical-weapons accusations. Amnesty International alleged in 2016 that the army, then allied with the RSF, used chemical agents against civilians in Darfur. Sudan has denied chemical contamination associated with the latest US action.
The current war began in April 2023 after a power struggle between Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Washington has sanctioned both leaders and accused RSF commanders of genocide in Darfur. The conflict followed decades of strained relations between Sudan and the United States, including sanctions under Omar al-Bashir, their partial removal after his 2019 overthrow and renewed pressure after the 2021 military coup.
The human cost has continued to grow. The United Nations has characterized Sudan as the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Nearly 20 million people face acute food insecurity, while aid organizations estimate that more than 200,000 people have been killed, according to the report.
US-backed attempts to secure a ceasefire, including talks involving Saudi Arabia and a proposed three-month humanitarian truce, had not ended the conflict. The new sanctions increased pressure on the army-led government but did not resolve the disputed factual record surrounding the alleged chemical attacks.
