The U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism is a list complied by the U.S. State Department of countries that the United States' sees as sponsoring terrorism. Inclusion on the list imposes strict sanctions.

• Cuba - hosts or supports members of Basque ETA and the Colombian FARC and ELN groups.
• Iran - "continued to provide Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian rejectionist groups -- notably Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP-GC -- with varying amounts of funding, safe haven, training, and weapons. It also encouraged Hizballah and the rejectionist Palestinian groups to coordinate their planning and to escalate their activities." [1]
• Libya - thought to have directly sponsored the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in Lockerbie and a disco bombing in Germany.
• North Korea - Thought to have possibly sold weapons to terrorist groups and to have give asylum to Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction members.
• Sudan -- Added in 1993. "A number of international terrorist groups including al-Qaida, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Egyptian al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and HAMAS continued to use Sudan as a safe haven, primarily for conducting logistics and other support activities." [2]
• Syria - "provided Hizballah, HAMAS, PFLP-GC, the PIJ, and other terrorist organizations refuge and basing privileges." [3]

Countries which have been on the list but since removed:

• Iraq - the only Arab-Muslim country that did not condemn the September 11 attacks against the United States, it provided bases to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), and the Abu Nidal organization (ANO). US sanctions applicable to state sponsors of terrorism against Iraq were suspended on 7 May 2003 and President Bush announce the removal of Iraq from the list on 25 September 2004 in view of the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Afghanistan has never been on the list because although in 2001 "Taliban-controlled Afghanistan remains a primary hub for terrorists"[4], the United States government never recognised the regime as the government of that country.

The sanctions which the US imposes on countries on the list are:

• No arms-related exports
• Controls over dual-use exports
• Restrictions on economic assistance
• Financial restrictions
  • US opposes loans by the World Bank and similar institutions
  • Diplomatic immunity waived to allow families of terrorist victims to file for civil damages in US courts
  • Tax credits denied for income earned in listed countries
  • Duty-free goods exemption suspended for imports from those countries
  • Authority to prohibit a US citizen from engaging in financial transactions with the government on the list without a license from the US government.
  • Prohibition of Defense Department contracts above $100,000 with companies controlled by countries on the list.