We want to speak directly to the concern many of you have expressed, and we owe you a clear explanation of what happened, why it happened, and where we stand now. We understand this situation caused genuine alarm and we take that seriously. In preparing the NeurIPS 2026 handbook, we included a link to a US government sanctions tool that covers a significantly broader set of restrictions than those NeurIPS is actually required to follow. This error was due to miscommunication between the NeurIPS Foundation and our legal team; there was never an intention to restrict participation beyond our mandatory compliance obligations. The responsibility for that error is ours as an organization, and we deeply apologize for the alarm and impact this miscommunication had on our community. We have updated the link and clarified the text of our policy, which is consistent with that of ACM and IEEE, as well as other international conferences and NeurIPS in the past. As in previous years, NeurIPS welcomes submissions from all compliant institutions and individuals. We want to reiterate that NeurIPS is a community-driven event, created by and for the community, and strives to be inclusive. The NeurIPS 2026 organizing committee was particularly saddened to learn of this institutional miscommunication. The organizing committee has taken on the responsibility of running the conference this year with the goal of fostering open communication, knowledge sharing, and global scientific discourse. We thank the community for bringing this issue to our attention and working with us through this situation.