[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6114 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6114
To impose additional sanctions with respect to Iran and modify other
existing sanctions with respect to Iran, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 30, 2023
Mr. Banks (for himself, Mr. Hern, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr.
Aderholt, Mr. Alford, Mr. Allen, Mr. Arrington, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Baird,
Mr. Barr, Mr. Buck, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Ciscomani, Mr. Collins, Mr.
Crenshaw, Mr. Ellzey, Mr. Estes, Mr. Fallon, Mr. Feenstra, Mr.
Ferguson, Mr. Finstad, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Scott
Franklin of Florida, Mr. Mike Garcia of California, Mr. Gimenez, Mr.
Tony Gonzales of Texas, Mr. Good of Virginia, Mr. Gooden of Texas, Mr.
Green of Tennessee, Mr. Guest, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Hill, Mrs.
Houchin, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Jackson of Texas, Mr. Joyce of Ohio, Mr.
LaLota, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Loudermilk, Mr. Luttrell, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr.
Mann, Mrs. McClain, Mr. Miller of Ohio, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Mills,
Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Norman, Mr. Obernolte, Mr.
Owens, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Pence, Mr. Pfluger, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Rose,
Mr. Rutherford, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Self, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Smith of New
Jersey, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Steil, Mr. Steube, Mr. Strong, Mr. Tiffany,
Mr. Van Drew, Ms. Van Duyne, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Walberg, Mr. Waltz, Mr.
Weber of Texas, Mr. Williams of Texas, Mr. Wittman, Mr. Zinke, Mr.
Bost, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Kean of New Jersey, Mr. Langworthy, Mr.
LaTurner, Mrs. Miller of West Virginia, Mr. Moore of Utah, Mr.
Newhouse, and Mr. Gallagher) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the
Committees on the Judiciary, Ways and Means, Oversight and
Accountability, Financial Services, Rules, and Intelligence (Permanent
Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose additional sanctions with respect to Iran and modify other
existing sanctions with respect to Iran, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Maximum Pressure
Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Sense of congress on Iranian responsibility for Hamas terror
attacks on October 7, 2023.
Sec. 4. Statement of policy.
Sec. 5. Severability.
TITLE I--MATTERS RELATING TO SANCTIONS AND SANCTION AUTHORITIES
Sec. 101. Codification of executive orders and continuation of certain
existing sanctions.
Sec. 102. Sanctions with respect to the Supreme Leader of Iran.
Sec. 103. Sanctions with respect to listed persons involved in
international arms sales to Iran.
Sec. 104. Additional conditions for termination and elimination of
sunset of sanctions under the Iran
Sanctions Act of 1996.
Sec. 105. Sectoral sanctions on Iran under the Iran Freedom and
Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012.
Sec. 106. Amendments to the comprehensive Iran Sanctions,
Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010.
Sec. 107. Congressional review of certain actions relating to sanctions
imposed with respect to Iran.
Sec. 108. Clarification of guidance relating to Iran's shipping sector.
Sec. 109. Sunset of waiver and license authorities.
Sec. 110. Codification and application on transfers of funds involving
Iran.
Sec. 111. Applicability of congressional review of certain agency
rulemaking relating to Iran.
Sec. 112. Strict liability of parent companies and foreign subsidiaries
for violations of Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act of 1977.
Sec. 113. Expansion of sanctions with respect to efforts by Iran to
acquire ballistic missile and related
technology.
Sec. 114. Expansion of sanctions under Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 with
respect to persons that acquire or develop
ballistic missiles.
Sec. 115. Imposition of sanctions with respect to Ballistic Missile
Program of Iran.
Sec. 116. Mandatory sanctions with respect to financial institutions
that engage in certain transactions on
behalf of persons involved in human rights
abuses or that export sensitive technology
to Iran.
Sec. 117. Additional sanctions with respect to foreign persons that
support or conduct certain transactions
with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps or
other sanctioned persons.
TITLE II--MATTERS RELATING TO THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM
Sec. 201. Prohibitions of International Monetary Fund allocations for
Iran.
Sec. 202. Certification requirement for removal of designation of Iran
as a jurisdiction of primary money
laundering concern.
Sec. 203. Requirement to take special measures at domestic financial
institutions.
Sec. 204. Additional sanctions with respect to foreign persons that are
officials, agents, or affiliates of, or
owned or controlled by, Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Sec. 205. Additional sanctions with respect to foreign persons that
support or conduct certain transactions
with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps or
other sanctioned persons.
Sec. 206. Reports on certain Iranian persons and sectors of Iran's
economy that are controlled by Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
TITLE III--MATTERS RELATING TO THE DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN ENTITIES
Sec. 301. Prohibition on future waivers and licenses connected to the
designation of the IRGC.
Sec. 302. Prohibition on future waivers and licenses connected to the
designation of the IRGC as a foreign
terrorist organization.
Sec. 303. Measures with respect to Ansarallah in Yemen.
TITLE IV--DETERMINATIONS AND REPORTS
Sec. 401. Determinations with respect to the imposition of sanctions.
Sec. 402. Iranian militia watchlists.
Sec. 403. Expansion of reporting to include Iranian arms shipments to
the Houthis and Iranian backed militias in
Iraq and Syria.
Sec. 404. Annual report on Iran sanctions violations.
Sec. 405. Report on sanctions relief going to terrorism or
destabilizing activities.
Sec. 406. Supporting human rights for the people of Iran and the
victims of Iranian human rights abuses in
Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Venezuela.
Sec. 407. Determination with respect to net worth of Iranian Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sec. 408. IRGC watch list and report.
Sec. 409. Report on Iran's breakout timeline for uranium enrichment and
nuclear weaponization.
Sec. 410. Report on Iranian disinformation campaigns and counter-
disinformation efforts.
Sec. 411. Report on Iranian support to Hamas.
Sec. 412. Report on unblocked Iranian assets and terrorism.
Sec. 413. Report on Iranian counterintelligence threats in the United
States.
TITLE V--ADDITIONAL MATTERS
Sec. 501. Increasing rewards for justice for Hamas, Hezbollah, the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other
terrorists involved in October 7, 2023,
terrorist attacks against Israel.
Sec. 502. Repurposing frozen Iranian funds for United States Victims of
State Sponsored Terrorism fund.
Sec. 503. Determination regarding applicable Iranian financial
institutions under executive order 13902.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Iran is the world's leading State sponsor of terrorism.
It seeks ``death to America'' and the destruction of the State
of Israel.
(2) Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, its efforts to
destroy the State of Israel, its support of terrorism, its
destabilizing behavior in the Middle East, its development and
proliferation of drones and ballistic missiles, and its gross
violations of human rights against its own people and the
peoples of the Middle East are a threat to the national
security of the United States, our allies, and international
peace and security.
(3) Iran and its proxies have planned, directed, sponsored,
and funded terrorist plots throughout the world and on United
States soil, including the October 2023, mass murder and
hostage-taking of Israeli civilians by Hamas and the killing of
at least 31 United States citizens in that attack, the 2011
attempted assassination of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the
United States in Washington, DC, the 1994 bombing of the
Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, which killed over 85 people, and the 2012 bus
bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed 5 Israelis.
(4) Experts estimate that Iran as of September 2023, has
enough highly enriched uranium to produce weapons-grade uranium
for 1 nuclear bomb within 12 days and as many as 6 nuclear
bombs within 1 month. Iran continues to enrich uranium to
levels for which there is no conceivable civilian purpose and
which could only be used to produce a nuclear weapon.
(5) According to multiple United States Directors of
National Intelligence, Iran has the largest arsenal of
ballistic missiles in the Middle East. Iran also possesses a
robust cruise missile arsenal and advanced drone capability,
which threaten United States and allied air and missile
defenses. Iran tests, transfers, and even uses these systems in
military operations abroad.
(6) Iran has given ballistic missiles, drones, and
associated technology to the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias
in Iraq, the Assad regime in Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon,
and is trafficking precision-guided munitions parts through the
Middle East to upgrade the rocket forces of its chief proxy,
Hezbollah.
(7) Iran has sold thousands of drones to Russia for its use
in its invasion of Ukraine, leading to mass attacks on civilian
infrastructure, and has given Russia the technology and
knowledge to produce these drones in Russia.
(8) Iran continues to take United States citizens hostage
in order to extract ransom payments from the United States and
exchange arbitrarily detained United States citizens for
Iranian agents arrested for violating United States sanctions
and for other malign activities.
(9) The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated by
former President Barack Obama was fatally flawed, did not
eliminate Iran's pathway to a nuclear weapon, and allowed Iran
to retain and refine its ability to quickly resume its pursuit
of a nuclear weapon.
(10) The failed Iran nuclear agreement provided Iran with
over $100,000,000,000 in sanctions relief that was used by Iran
to fuel proxy wars across the Middle East.
(11) The failed Iran nuclear agreement lifted the United
Nations conventional arms embargo on Iran in October 2020,
permitting Russia and China to engage in international arms
sales with Iran.
(12) The failed Iran nuclear agreement also lifted the
United Nations missile embargo on Iran in October 2023,
allowing Iran to sell and purchase drone and ballistic missile
technology.
(13) A central flaw of the failed Iran nuclear deal was
that the agreement solely focused on nuclear weapons and did
not address non-nuclear issues like Iran's support for
terrorism, drone and ballistic missile technology, gross human
rights abuses, and Iran's other malign activities.
(14) On May 21, 2018, 2 weeks after President Trump
withdrew from the failed Iran nuclear deal, former Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo laid out 12 demands that would need to be met
by Iran as part of any agreement related to the lifting of
sanctions, and the re-establishment of diplomatic and
commercial relations with Iran.
(15) Former President Donald Trump's maximum pressure
campaign on Iran denied the regime unprecedented revenue it
would have otherwise spent on terrorism.
(16) On December 31, 2019, then-Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani admitted that Iran had lost $200 billion in revenue
because of United States sanctions.
(17) Iran's 2019 defense budget cut defense spending by 28
percent, including a 17 percent cut to the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist
organization. Hezbollah terrorists and Iranian backed militias
were denied resources and were forced to cut salaries of their
fighters.
(18) The Iranian rial lost around 70 percent of its value
due to President Trump's maximum pressure campaign.
(19) According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran's
accessible foreign exchange reserves plunged to $4,000,000,000
in 2020 from $123,000,000,000 in 2018, or a decrease of over 96
percent.
(20) During the maximum pressure campaign, the United
States was able to achieve the release of 2 hostages in Iran,
Xiyue Wang and Michael White, without lifting sanctions or
transferring cash to Iran.
(21) President Joe Biden's relentless attempts to re-enter
the failed Iran nuclear agreement squandered much of the
leverage created by President Trump's maximum pressure
campaign.
(22) The Biden Administration's pursuit of an even weaker
deal with Iran broke previous pledges made by administration
officials to pursue a ``longer and stronger'' deal that
extended sunset dates of restrictions and which would cover a
broader range of Iran's malign activity.
(23) Amid the multiple failed rounds of talks to get Iran
to reenter the Iran nuclear agreement, the Biden administration
reportedly offered to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, despite the
group's obvious involvement in and support for terrorism, until
news of this offer became public.
(24) The Iranian regime has made more than $80,000,000,000
in illicit oil sales since President Biden took office due to
the administration's lax enforcement of sanctions on Iranian
oil exports. Total Iranian oil exports reached nearly 2,000,000
barrels per day in August 2023, the highest since before the
maximum pressure campaign began.
(25) In 2021, Iran increased funding for the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps by 14 percent, reversing budget cuts
imposed as a result of maximum pressure.
(26) Iran's accessible foreign exchange reserves have risen
from $4,000,000,000 in 2020 to at least $43,000,000,000 in
2023.
(27) In July 2023, the United States unfroze nearly
$10,000,000,000 held in Iraqi banks for Iraq to pay to the
Iranian regime.
(28) In August 2023, the Biden Administration agreed to
give Iran access to $6,000,000,000 in previously frozen funds
and released several Iranians in prison for violating United
States sanctions in exchange for the release of 5 United States
hostages. This represents the largest ransom payment in United
States history.
(29) On March 18, 2021, in an interview with BBC Persian,
President Biden's Special Envoy for Iran and lead United States
negotiator in talks to re-enter the Iran deal, Robert Malley,
stated ``President Biden and all of his senior advisers have
said this--the maximum pressure campaign has failed. It was a
failure, a predicted failure. It hasn't made life any better
for the Iranian people; it hasn't made life any better for the
United States and the region; it hasn't brought us any closer
to this better deal that President Trump spoke about.''.
(30) In June 2023, it was revealed that the State
Department had placed Malley on leave and had suspended his
security clearance, reportedly due to accusations that Malley
mishandled classified information.
(31) In September 2023, it was revealed that Malley had
deep ties to several experts who were part of an Iranian
Government influence operation during the Iran deal
negotiations to convince Western governments to support lighter
demands on Iran. These experts have since served in senior
staff positions in the Department of Defense and have advised
executive branch officials on issues related to Iran.
(32) In September 2022, the Iranian regime's ``Morality
Police'' detained, brutally beat, and killed 22-year old Mahsa
Amini for allegedly violating Islamic dress code. Mahsa's death
spurred the largest anti-regime and pro-democracy protests in
Iran since the 1979 revolution, with hundreds of thousands of
Iranians chanting ``Death to the Dictator''.
(33) Iranian regime forces cracked down on the protests,
killing at least 500 protestors, and eventually reinstated
street patrols of the Morality Police and has continued
brutalizing women who do not adhere to its strict dress code.
(34) On September 12, 2023, the House of Representatives
passed the passed the MAHSA Act, which imposes sanctions on
Iranian leadership, including the Supreme Leader of Iran, for
their respon