To provide for a comprehensive strategy to counter Iran's growing hostile presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Countering Iran in the Western 
Hemisphere Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) The United States has vital political, economic, and 
    security interests in the Western Hemisphere.
        (2) Iran is pursuing cooperation with Latin American countries 
    by signing economic and security agreements in order to create a 
    network of diplomatic and economic relationships to lessen the blow 
    of international sanctions and oppose Western attempts to constrict 
    its ambitions.
        (3) According to the Department of State, Hezbollah, with Iran 
    as its state sponsor, is considered the ``most technically capable 
    terrorist group in the world'' with ``thousands of supporters, 
    several thousand members, and a few hundred terrorist operatives,'' 
    and officials from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 
    (IRGC) Qods Force have been working in concert with Hezbollah for 
    many years.
        (4) The IRGC's Qods Force has a long history of supporting 
    Hezbollah's military, paramilitary, and terrorist activities, 
    providing it with guidance, funding, weapons, intelligence, and 
    logistical support, and in 2007, the Department of the Treasury 
    placed sanctions on the IRGC and its Qods Force for their support 
    of terrorism and proliferation activities.
        (5) The IRGC's Qods Force stations operatives in foreign 
    embassies, charities, and religious and cultural institutions to 
    foster relationships, often building on existing socioeconomic ties 
    with the well established Shia Diaspora, and recent years have 
    witnessed an increased presence in Latin America.
        (6) According to the Department of Defense, the IRGC and its 
    Qods Force played a significant role in some of the deadliest 
    terrorist attacks of the past two decades, including the 1994 
    attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, by 
    generally directing or supporting the groups that actually executed 
    the attacks.
        (7) Reports of Iranian intelligence agents being implicated in 
    Hezbollah-linked activities since the early 1990s suggest direct 
    Iranian government support of Hezbollah activities in the Tri-
    Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, and in the past 
    decade, Iran has dramatically increased its diplomatic missions to 
    Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil. Iran 
    has built 17 cultural centers in Latin America, and it currently 
    maintains 11 embassies, up from 6 in 2005.
        (8) Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies with a presence in 
    Latin America have raised revenues through illicit activities, 
    including drug and arms trafficking, counterfeiting, money 
    laundering, forging travel documents, pirating software and music, 
    and providing haven and assistance to other terrorists transiting 
    the region.
        (9) Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela expressed 
    their intention to assist Iran in evading sanctions by signing a 
    statement supporting Iran's nuclear activities and announcing at a 
    2010 joint press conference in Tehran their determination to 
    ``continue and expand their economic ties to Iran'' with confidence 
    that ``Iran can give a crushing response to the threats and 
    sanctions imposed by the West and imperialism''.
        (10) The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration concluded in 2008 
    that almost one-half of the foreign terrorist organizations in the 
    world are linked to narcotics trade and trafficking, including 
    Hezbollah and Hamas.
        (11) In October 2011, the United States charged two men, 
    Manssor Arbabsiar, a United States citizen holding both Iranian and 
    United States passports, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member 
    of Iran's IRGC Qods Force, with conspiracy to murder a foreign 
    official using explosives in an act of terrorism. Arbabsiar 
    traveled to Mexico with the express intent to hire ``someone in the 
    narcotics business'' to carry out the assassination of the Saudi 
    Arabian Ambassador in the United States. While in the end, he only 
    engaged a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency informant posing as an 
    associate of a drug trafficking cartel, Arbabsiar believed that he 
    was working with a member of a Mexican drug trafficking 
    organization and sought to send money to this individual in 
    installments and not in a single transfer.
        (12) In February 2011, actions by the Department of the 
    Treasury effectively shut down the Lebanese Canadian Bank. 
    Subsequent actions by the United States Government in connection 
    with the investigation into Lebanese Canadian Bank resulted in the 
    indictment in December 2011 of Ayman Joumaa, an individual of 
    Lebanese nationality, with citizenship in Lebanon and Colombia, and 
    with ties to Hezbollah, for trafficking cocaine to the Los Zetas 
    drug trafficking organization in Mexico City for sale in the United 
    States and for laundering the proceeds.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
     It shall be the policy of the United States to use a comprehensive 
government-wide strategy to counter Iran's growing hostile presence and 
activity in the Western Hemisphere by working together with United 
States allies and partners in the region to mutually deter threats to 
United States interests by the Government of Iran, the Iranian Islamic 
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
    In this Act:
        (1) Western hemisphere.--The term ``Western Hemisphere'' means 
    the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, 
    and Central America.
        (2) Relevant congressional committees.--The term ``relevant 
    congressional committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
    of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 
    Relations of the Senate.
SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT OF A STRATEGY TO ADDRESS IRAN'S GROWING HOSTILE 
PRESENCE AND ACTIVITY IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.
    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall conduct an 
assessment of the threats posed to the United States by Iran's growing 
presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere and submit to the 
relevant congressional committees the results of the assessment and a 
strategy to address Iran's growing hostile presence and activity in the 
Western Hemisphere.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--The strategy described in subsection 
(a) should include--
        (1) a description of the presence, activities, and operations 
    of Iran, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), its 
    Qods Force, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations linked to 
    Iran that may be present in the Western Hemisphere, including 
    information about their leaders, objectives, and areas of influence 
    and information on their financial networks, trafficking 
    activities, and safe havens;
        (2) a description of the terrain, population, ports, foreign 
    firms, airports, borders, media outlets, financial centers, foreign 
    embassies, charities, religious and cultural centers, and income-
    generating activities in the Western Hemisphere utilized by Iran, 
    the IRGC, its Qods Force, Hezbollah, and other terrorist 
    organizations linked to Iran that may be present in the Western 
    Hemisphere;
        (3) a description of the relationship of Iran, the IRGC, its 
    Qods Force, and Hezbollah with transnational criminal organizations 
    linked to Iran and other terrorist organizations in the Western 
    Hemisphere, including information on financial networks and 
    trafficking activities;
        (4) a description of the relationship of Iran, the IRGC, its 
    Qods Force, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations linked to 
    Iran that may be present in the Western Hemisphere with the 
    governments in the Western Hemisphere, including military-to-
    military relations and diplomatic, economic, and security 
    partnerships and agreements;
        (5) a description of the Federal law enforcement capabilities, 
    military forces, State and local government institutions, and other 
    critical elements, such as nongovernmental organizations, in the 
    Western Hemisphere that may organize to counter the threat posed by 
    Iran, the IRGC, its Qods Force, Hezbollah, and other terrorist 
    organizations linked to Iran that may be present in the Western 
    Hemisphere;
        (6) a description of activity by Iran, the IRGC, its Qods 
    Force, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations linked to Iran 
    that may be present at the United States borders with Mexico and 
    Canada and at other international borders within the Western 
    Hemisphere, including operations related to drug, human, and arms 
    trafficking, human support networks, financial support, narco-
    tunneling, and technological advancements that incorporates--
            (A) with respect to the United States borders, in 
        coordination with the Governments of Mexico and Canada and the 
        Secretary of Homeland Security, a plan to address resources, 
        technology, and infrastructure to create a secure United States 
        border and strengthen the ability of the United States and its 
        allies to prevent operatives from Iran, the IRGC, its Qods 
        Force, Hezbollah, or any other terrorist organization from 
        entering the United States; and
            (B) within Latin American countries, a multiagency action 
        plan, in coordination with United States allies and partners in 
        the region, that includes the development of strong rule-of-law 
        institutions to provide security in such countries and a 
        counterterrorism and counter-radicalization plan to isolate 
        Iran, the IRGC, its Qods Force, Hezbollah, and other terrorist 
        organizations linked to Iran that may be present in the Western 
        Hemisphere from their sources of financial support and counter 
        their facilitation of terrorist activity; and
        (7) a plan--
            (A) to address any efforts by foreign persons, entities, 
        and governments in the region to assist Iran in evading United 
        States and international sanctions;
            (B) to protect United States interests and assets in the 
        Western Hemisphere, including embassies, consulates, 
        businesses, energy pipelines, and cultural organizations, 
        including threats to United States allies;
            (C) to support United States efforts to designate persons 
        and entities in the Western Hemisphere for proliferation 
        activities and terrorist activities relating to Iran, including 
        affiliates of the IRGC, its Qods Force, and Hezbollah, under 
        applicable law including the International Emergency Economic 
        Powers Act; and
            (D) to address the vital national security interests of the 
        United States in ensuring energy supplies from the Western 
        Hemisphere that are free from the influence of any foreign 
        government that would attempt to manipulate or disrupt global 
        energy markets.
    (c) Development.--In developing the strategy under this section, 
the Secretary of State shall consult with the heads of all appropriate 
United States departments and agencies, including the Secretary of 
Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, 
and the United States Trade Representative.
    (d) Form.--The strategy in this section may be submitted in 
classified form, but shall include an unclassified summary of policy 
recommendations to address the growing Iranian threat in the Western 
Hemisphere.
SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
    It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should keep 
the relevant congressional committees continually informed on the 
hostile actions of Iran in the Western Hemisphere.
SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
     Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the rights or 
protections enjoyed by United States citizens under the United States 
Constitution or other Federal law, or to create additional authorities 
for the Federal Government that are contrary to the United States 
Constitution and United States law.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.

Summary: Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012 - States that it is US policy to use a comprehensive strategy to counter Iran's growing hostile presence in the Western Hemisphere by working together with US allies and partners in the region to deter threats to US interests by Iran, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah. Directs the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a strategy to address Iran's growing presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere which should include: (1) descriptions of the presence, activities, and operations of Iran, the IRGC, the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah. (2) descriptions of the terrain, population, ports, foreign firms, airports, borders, media outlets, financial centers, foreign embassies, charities, religious and cultural centers, and income-generating activities utilized by Iran, the IRGC, the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah. (3) descriptions of the relationship of Iran, the IRGC, the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah with transnational criminal organizations. (4) descriptions of the relationship of Iran, the IRGC, the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah that may be present with governments in the Western Hemisphere. (5) descriptions of federal law enforcement capabilities, military forces, state and local government institutions, and other critical elements, such as nongovernmental organizations that may organize to counter the Iranian threat in the Western Hemisphere. (6) descriptions of activity by Iran, the IRGC, the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah that may be present at the US borders with Mexico and Canada and at other international borders within the Western Hemisphere. And (7) a plan to address efforts by foreign persons, entities, and governments in the region to assist Iran in evading sanctions, to protect US interests, assets, and allies in the Western Hemisphere, to support US efforts to designate persons and entities in the Western Hemisphere for proliferation and terrorist activities relating to Iran, and to address vital US interests in ensuring energy supplies from the Western Hemisphere. Authorizes such strategy to be submitted in classified form, but requires it to include an unclassified summary of policy recommendations addressing the growing Iranian threat in the Western Hemisphere. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary should keep Congress informed about Iran's hostile actions in the Western Hemisphere.