If you inherited a home in Tehran, own an apartment your parents left you in Shiraz, or hold title to land you bought decades ago, selling it from outside Iran raises three separate questions: how do you legally authorize someone in Iran to act for you, what has changed in 2026 that could delay or block that authorization, and — if you are a U.S. person — what do U.S. sanctions and tax law require once the property is sold.
- You almost always need a power of attorney (POA/vekalatnameh) to sell property in Iran without traveling there yourself, and it must specifically describe the property and authorize its sale — a general POA is not enough.
- If you are a U.S. person (citizen, green card holder, or U.S. entity), selling inherited or pre-emigration property in Iran is generally allowed under a specific OFAC general license, but reinvesting the proceeds in Iran, or selling property tied to a family business, is not automatically covered.
- Sale proceeds held at an Iranian bank above $10,000 at any point in the year generally trigger a U.S. FBAR filing requirement, separate from any income tax owed on the sale itself.
Why You Need a POA at All
Iranian civil procedure requires the person on the title (or their properly authorized representative) to appear before a notary public to transfer a deed. Since most Iranians abroad cannot travel to Iran for the closing, a power of attorney authorizing a trusted representative — often a lawyer — to sign on their behalf is the standard mechanism.
It Must Be a Specific POA, Not a General One
A common and costly mistake is assuming a broad, general power of attorney covers a property sale. Under Iranian practice, a notarized power of attorney — even one described as granting "full powers" — does not by itself authorize an agent to sell real property. To authorize a sale, the POA must separately and precisely identify the property (legal description, plaque/pelak number, registration district), its type, and generally the expected sale terms. A vague or general POA can be rejected at the notary office, or worse, misused.
How the POA Gets from You to Iran
For Iranians abroad, there are two broad paths to originate and authenticate a POA:
- Through Iranian diplomatic missions — an Iranian consulate, interests section, or authorized foreign-affairs bureau where you live, followed by registration in Iran's online systems.
- Through the Mikhak and Sana systems — Iran's online portals for registering the applicant's identity and generating a tracking code before the POA text is finalized and legalized. A civil (non-judicial) POA generally routes through Mikhak; a POA authorizing a licensed lawyer to pursue matters in Iranian courts generally requires separate registration through the Sana system.
If you already have U.S. legal counsel involved, the POA typically still needs local notarization in your country of residence, followed by authentication (an apostille or, for non-Hague countries, consular legalization) before an Iranian notary will accept it.
2026 Update: New POA Processing Has Been Suspended for Diaspora Asset Transfers
In April 2026, Iran's Attorney General (Mohammad Movahedi-Azad) announced that the notarization of powers of attorney for asset transfers belonging to Iranians living abroad had been suspended "until further notice," with a judicial order directing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to forward all such POAs to the Attorney General's office for review before they can proceed.
What this means practically, as of this writing:
- If you already have a validly registered, pre-existing POA in place, it is not automatically void — but banks, notary offices, and the deeds registry may apply heightened scrutiny to any transaction under it, and enforcement varies by office and province.
- If you are trying to originate a new POA from abroad specifically to transfer or sell property, expect possible delay, additional review, or in some cases refusal, particularly where the applicant has any public profile connected to political activity, protests, or foreign media.
- This is a fluid, case-by-case administrative policy, not a published statute — status can differ between provinces and can change without notice. Before relying on any POA timeline for a pending sale, confirm current processing status directly with counsel in Iran.
What to Watch For
Because you often cannot be physically present to supervise a sale, POA misuse is one of the most common ways Iranians abroad lose property value or, in the worst cases, the property itself.
Red flags in the underlying property paperwork:
- Inconsistent names, national ID numbers, or plaque numbers across documents
- Documents that look inconsistent in paper quality, stamps, or seals compared to genuine registry documents
- Pressure to sign or wire funds quickly, "before the deal falls through"
- Any resistance to independently verifying documents through the notary or deeds registration office itself, rather than relying on copies the other side hands you
Red flags in the agent relationship (your own POA holder):
- Vagueness about how or when they will report back on offers received or funds collected
- Refusal to provide copies of the executed sale documents or the notary file number
- Reluctance to accept a POA scoped narrowly (specific property, specific purpose, defined term) in favor of broader authority than the sale requires
Practical safeguards:
- Scope the POA tightly: name the specific property, state the purpose (sale only), and consider a defined expiration date.
- Under Article 679 of Iran's Civil Code, a principal generally retains the right to revoke a power of attorney at any time — confirm in writing whether your POA includes any non-revocability clause before signing.
- Require that sale proceeds route through a documented, traceable channel (not cash to a third party), and get the notary file/registration number for the completed transfer.
- Have an independent Iranian attorney — not the buyer's or agent's contact — review title and encumbrances before you authorize a sale.
How U.S. Sanctions Apply to Selling Iranian Property
This section applies if you are a U.S. citizen, green card holder, or a U.S.-organized entity — a "U.S. person" under OFAC's Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 560.
U.S. sanctions law generally prohibits U.S. persons from engaging in almost any transaction involving Iran. Selling real estate you own there, and moving the proceeds to the U.S., falls within that broad prohibition — unless a specific exception applies.
The relevant general license: 31 C.F.R. § 560.543. OFAC's general license at § 560.543 authorizes U.S. persons to sell real and personal property in Iran and transfer the related funds to the United States, provided the property was either acquired before you became a U.S. person, or inherited from someone in Iran. Under this general license, you may also engage professionals in Iran who are ordinarily necessary for the sale — an attorney, a funds agent, or a broker.
What the general license does not cover. Two common scenarios fall outside § 560.543 and would require a separate, specific license application to OFAC before proceeding:
- Winding down a family business connected to the real estate (as opposed to a simple personal-property sale).
- Property received as an inter vivos gift — for example, a parent transferring title to you while they are still alive, rather than property you inherited after their death or acquired before becoming a U.S. person.
Moving the proceeds. Because U.S. banks generally cannot process transfers to or from Iran except where ordinarily incident to an authorized transaction, proceeds from an authorized sale are typically moved through a licensed Iranian currency exchange (a sarafi), routed through a third-country bank to reach your U.S. account — not sent directly from an Iranian bank, and not routed through any person or institution blocked under relevant Executive Orders.
How the Sale Is Taxed for U.S. Persons
Also specific to U.S. persons; consult a CPA or tax attorney for your individual return.
How you originally acquired the property drives how it is taxed on sale:
- If you purchased the property yourself: the sale is treated like any other real property sale — you calculate gain as the difference between your adjusted basis and the amount realized on sale, and pay tax at your applicable capital gains rate.
- If you inherited the property: your basis is generally the property's fair market value on the date of the decedent's death. Even where no estate tax is due, the sale itself generally still needs to be reported on IRS Form 8949. If you inherited from someone who was not a U.S. person, you may also need to file IRS Form 3520 (reporting foreign gifts/inheritances above the applicable threshold).
- If you received the property as a gift during the donor's lifetime: you need three figures — the donor's adjusted basis immediately before the gift, the property's fair market value at the time of the gift, and any gift tax paid — to calculate your basis and resulting gain or loss on sale.
Foreign account reporting (FBAR). If sale proceeds are held at an Iranian financial institution and the account balance exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year — even briefly — a U.S. person must generally file FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) by the annual deadline. This filing obligation exists independent of, and in addition to, any OFAC restriction on holding funds at an Iranian bank.