I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2375 

To require the application of sanctions against affiliates of the Iran 

Revolutionary Guard Corps, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2009 

Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Mr. 

BURTON of Indiana, and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 

Committees on the Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform, and 

Ways and Means, 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 require the application of sanctions against affiliates of 

the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iran Revolutionary 

5 Guard Corps Designation Implementation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps 

2 (IRGC) is a political and ideological military organi3 zation of Iran’s government, separate from the Ira4 nian military. It globally spreads Iran’s ideology to 

5 terrorist groups and began deploying fighters abroad 

6 during the Iran-Iraq War in an effort to spread the 

7 ideology of the Iranian Revolution throughout the 

8 Middle East. 

9 (2) The Qods Force, a paramilitary arm of the 

10 IRGC, was created to conduct foreign operations— 

11 beginning in Iraq’s Kurdish region—and to forge re12 lationships with Shiite and Kurdish groups. A Qods 

13 unit was also deployed to Lebanon in 1982, where 

14 it helped to form Hizballah. 

15 (3) The IRGC was designated as an entity of 

16 proliferation concern under Executive Order 13382 

17 on October 21, 2007, and the Qods Force was des18 ignated as a terrorism supporting entity under Exec19 utive Order 13224 on October 25, 2007. 

20 (4) To further the support of terrorism abroad, 

21 Iran’s government allows the IRGC to raise funds 

22 and own businesses. The IRGC often operates 

23 through front businesses and affiliate groups. 

24 (5) The IRGC and Qods Force front businesses 

25 and affiliate groups represent an important part of 


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1 the Iranian economy. The National Iranian Gas 

2 Company issued one such firm, Khatam-ol-Anbia 

3 (Ghorb), a $1.3 billion contract to construct Iran’s 

4 seventh gas pipeline. In June 2006, Pars Oil and 

5 Gas Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned Na6 tional Iranian Oil Company, awarded Ghorb a $2.3 

7 billion contract to develop Phases 15-16 of Iran’s 

8 South Pars development—the world’s second largest 

9 gas field. In July 2006, Tehran Urban & Suburban 

10 Railway Company granted Ghorb a $1.2 billion con11 tract to build the seventh line of Tehran’s metro sys12 tem and a $350 million civil engineering contract for 

13 the fourth line. 

14 (6) In 2008, IRGC naval ships aggressively ap15 proached the USS Port Royal, USS Hopper, and 

16 USS Ingraham, during a routine transit at the 

17 Strait of Hormuz. 

18 (7) Members of the IRGC captured 15 British 

19 sailors and marines who were inspecting ships in the 

20 Persian Gulf near the demarcation line that sepa21 rates the territorial waters of Iran and Iraq. 

22 (8) In December 2006 and January 2007, Ira23 nian surrogates—the Qazali and Sheibani networks, 

24 which are now collectively referred to as the Special 

25 Groups—stepped up their attacks on Iraqi and CoaVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:02 May 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2375.IH H2375

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1 lition forces. The Qazali network conducted sophisti2 cated operations against United States forces at the 

3 Karbala Joint Provincial Coordination Center, kid4 napping and killing five United States soldiers dur5 ing the aborted operation. 

6 (9) The Qods Force has provided aid in the 

7 form of weapons, training, and funding to Hamas, 

8 Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the 

9 Liberation of Palestine-General Command, 

10 Hizballah, Iraq-based militants, and Taliban fighters 

11 in Afghanistan. 

12 (10) The United States military reported in 

13 February 2007 that the Qods Force was furnishing 

14 assistance to Shiite militias in Iraq to assemble im15 provised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosively 

16 formed projectiles (EFPs) that had been used to kill 

17 over 150 United States service personnel. 

18 (11) United States commanders in Afghani19 stan—along with the Department of State’s Report 

20 on International Terrorism for 2007 and 2008— 

21 have cited specific weapons shipments by Iran, im22 plemented by the Qods Force, to Taliban militants 

23 in Afghanistan. The Qods Force provided training to 

24 the Taliban on small unit tactics, small arms, explo25 sives, and indirect fire weapons. Since at least 2006, 


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1 Iran has arranged arms shipments including small 

2 arms and associated ammunition, rocket propelled 

3 grenades, mortar rounds, 107-mm rockets, and plas4 tic explosives to select Taliban members. 

5 SEC. 3. SANCTIONS AGAINST AFFILIATES OF THE IRAN 

6 REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS. 

7 (a) PUBLICATION OF NAMES OF AFFILIATES IN FED8 ERAL REGISTER.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act, and as appropriate there10 after, the President shall publish in the Federal Register 

11 the name of each foreign person or foreign entity for which 

12 there is credible information indicating that the person or 

13 entity is as an agent, alias, front, instrumentality, official, 

14 or affiliate of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps or is 

15 an individual serving as a representative of the Iran Revo16 lutionary Guard Corps. 

17 (b) APPLICATION OF EXISTING SANCTIONS AGAINST

18 IRAN TO AFFILIATES.—The President shall apply to each 

19 foreign person or foreign entity identified in the Federal 

20 Register pursuant to subsection (a) all applicable sanc21 tions of the United States in force against the Iran Revo22 lutionary Guard Corps as of the date of publication of the 

23 name of the person or entity in the Federal Register, in24 cluding measures contained in the following Executive or25 ders: 


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1 (1) Executive Order 13224 (66 Fed. Reg. 

2 49079; relating to blocking property and prohibiting 

3 transactions with persons who commit, threaten to 

4 commit, or support terrorism). 

5 (2) Executive Order 13382 (70 Fed. Reg. 

6 38567; relating to blocking property of weapons of 

7 mass destruction proliferators and their supporters). 

8 (c) SANCTIONS UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 13438.— 

9 (1) PUBLICATION OF NAMES OF AFFILIATES IN

10 FEDERAL REGISTER.—Not later than 90 days after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act, and as appro12 priate thereafter, the President shall publish in the 

13 Federal Register the name of each foreign person or 

14 foreign entity— 

15 (A) for which there is credible information 

16 indicating that the person or entity is as an 

17 agent, alias, front, instrumentality, official, or 

18 affiliate of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps 

19 or is an individual serving as a representative 

20 of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps; and 

21 (B) for which there is credible evidence 

22 that the foreign person or foreign entity— 

23 (i) has committed, or poses a signifi24 cant risk of committing, an act or acts of 


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1 violence that have the purpose or effect 

2 of— 

3 (I) threatening the peace or sta4 bility of Iraq or the Government of 

5 Iraq; or 

6 (II) undermining efforts to pro7 mote economic reconstruction and po8 litical reform in Iraq or to provide hu9 manitarian assistance to the Iraqi 

10 people; 

11 (ii) has materially assisted, sponsored, 

12 or provided financial, material, logistical, 

13 or technical support for, or goods or serv14 ices in support of, such an act or acts of 

15 violence or any person whose property and 

16 interests in property are blocked pursuant 

17 to Executive Order 13438; or 

18 (iii) is owned or controlled by, or has 

19 acted or purported to act for or on behalf 

20 of, directly or indirectly, any person whose 

21 property and interests in property are 

22 blocked pursuant to Executive Order 

23 13438. 

24 (2) APPLICATION OF SANCTIONS UNDER EXEC25 UTIVE ORDER 13438.—The President shall apply to 


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1 each foreign person or foreign entity identified in the 

2 Federal Register pursuant to paragraph (1) all ap3 plicable sanctions and measures of the United States 

4 contained in Executive Order 13438 (72 Fed. Reg. 

5 39719; relating to blocking property of certain per6 sons who threaten stabilization efforts in Iraq). 

7 (d) EXCLUSION FROM UNITED STATES.—The Sec8 retary of State shall deny a visa to, and the Secretary of 

9 Homeland Security shall exclude from the United States, 

10 any alien who, on or after the date of the enactment of 

11 this Act, is a foreign person identified in the Federal Reg12 ister pursuant to subsection (a) or (c). 

13 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion shall be construed to remove any sanction of the 

15 United States in force against the Iran Revolutionary 

16 Guard Corps as of the date of the enactment of this Act 

17 by reason of the fact that the Iran Revolutionary Guard 

18 Corps is an entity of the Government of Iran. 

19 SEC. 4. MEASURES AGAINST FOREIGN PERSONS OR ENTI20 TIES SUPPORTING THE IRAN REVOLU21 TIONARY GUARD CORPS. 

22 (a) NOTIFICATION.—Whenever the President deter23 mines that there is credible information indicating that a 

24 foreign person or foreign entity, on or after the date of 

25 the enactment of this Act, knowingly— 


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1 (1) provided material support to the Iran Revo2 lutionary Guard Corps or any affiliated foreign per3 son or foreign entity identified pursuant to section 

4 3 (a) or (c), or 

5 (2) conducted any commercial transaction or fi6 nancial transaction with the Iran Revolutionary 

7 Guards Corps or any affiliated foreign person or for8 eign entity identified pursuant to section 3 (a) or 

9 (c), 

10 the President shall submit to the appropriate congres11 sional committees a notification that contains the name 

12 of the foreign person or foreign entity (as the case may 

13 be). 

14 (b) FORM.—The President may submit the notifica15 tion required under subsection (a) in classified form. 

16 (c) EXECUTIVE ORDER 12938 SANCTIONS.—Not 

17 later than 60 days after the date on which the President 

18 provides notice to the appropriate congressional commit19 tees pursuant to subsection (a), the President shall apply 

20 to each foreign person or foreign entity identified in such 

21 notice, for such time as the President may determine, the 

22 measures set forth in section 4 of Executive Order 12938 

23 (59 Fed. Reg. 59099; relating to proliferation of weapons 

24 of mass destruction) and shall terminate such measures 

25 in accordance with the provisions of such section. 


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1 (d) IEEPA SANCTIONS.—The President may exer2 cise the authorities the President has under section 203(a) 

3 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

4 U.S.C. 1702(a)) to impose additional sanctions on each 

5 foreign person or foreign entity identified pursuant to sub6 section (a) of this section, for such time as the President 

7 may determine, without regard to section 202 of that Act. 

8 (e) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica9 tion of any measure described in subsection (c) with re10 spect to a foreign person or foreign entity if the Presi11 dent— 

12 (1)(A) determines that the person or entity has 

13 ceased the offending activity and has taken meas14 ures to prevent its recurrence; or 

15 (B) determines that it is vital to the national 

16 security interests of the United States to do so; and 

17 (2) submits to the appropriate congressional 

18 committees a report that contains the reasons for 

19 the determination. 

20 SEC. 5. SPECIAL MEASURES AGAINST FOREIGN GOVERN21 MENTS SUPPORTING THE IRAN REVOLU22 TIONARY GUARDS CORPS. 

23 (a) EXECUTIVE ORDER 12938 SANCTIONS.—With 

24 respect to any foreign entity identified pursuant to section 

25 4(a) that is a foreign government, the President shall, in 


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1 addition to applying to the entity the measures described 

2 in section 4(d), apply to the entity the measures set forth 

3 in section 5(b) of Executive Order 12938. 

4 (b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica5 tion of any measure described in subsection (a) with re6 spect to a foreign entity if the President— 

7 (1)(A) determines that the entity has ceased 

8 the offending activity and has taken measures to 

9 prevent its recurrence; or 

10 (B) determines that it is vital to the national 

11 security interests of the United States to do so; and 

12 (2) submits to the appropriate congressional 

13 committees a report that contains the reasons for 

14 the determination. 

15 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT18 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com19 mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

20 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

21 Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

22 (2) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per23 son’’ has the meaning given the term in section 14 

24 of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996. 


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1 (3) IRAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS.—The 

2 term ‘‘Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps’’ includes the 

3 Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. 

Æ 


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