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73–120PDF 2012

TO PROVIDE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY

TO COUNTER IRAN’S GROWING PRESENCE AND

HOSTILE ACTIVITY IN THE WESTERN

HEMISPHERE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

MARKUP

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, 

NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

H.R. 3783

MARCH 1, 2012

Serial No. 112–122

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

RON PAUL, Texas 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

BILL JOHNSON, Ohio 

DAVID RIVERA, Florida 

MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania 

TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York 

RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina 

ROBERT TURNER, New York 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

DENNIS CARDOZA, California 

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

ALLYSON SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania 

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut 

FREDERICA WILSON, Florida 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

YLEEM D.S. POBLETE, Staff Director 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

TED POE, Texas 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

BILL JOHNSON, Ohio 

TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas 

ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York 

RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

ALLYSON SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

MARKUP OF 

H.R. 3783, To provide for a comprehensive strategy to counter Iran’s growing 

presence and hostile activity in the Western Hemisphere, and for other 

purposes ................................................................................................................ 2

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3783 offered by the 

Honorable Jeff Duncan, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of South Carolina .............................................................................................. 11

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

The Honorable Jeff Duncan: Prepared statement ................................................. 25

APPENDIX 

Markup notice .......................................................................................................... 36

Markup minutes ...................................................................................................... 37

(1)

TO PROVIDE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO COUNTER IRAN’S GROWING PRESENCE AND HOSTILE ACTIVITY IN THE 

WESTERN HEMISPHERE, AND FOR OTHER 

PURPOSES 

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM,

NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 o’clock a.m., in 

room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward R. Royce 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. ROYCE. The subcommittee will come to order. Pursuant to 

notice, we meet today to mark up H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran 

in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012. Without objection, the 

amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr. Duncan, 

which incorporates changes from both sides of the aisle and was 

provided to your offices earlier this week and posted on the committee Web site, will be considered base text for purposes of this 

markup. 

The clerk will report the base text. 

Mr. STRUPP. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 

3783 offered by Mr. Duncan of South Carolina. 

Mr. ROYCE. Without objection, the text is considered read and is 

open for amendment at any point. And before proceeding to the 

ranking member and any other members seeking recognition, I recognize myself for a brief statement on the measure before us. 

[The information referred to follows:]

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Mr. ROYCE. In recent years Iran has developed close ties with 

several leaders in the Western Hemisphere who share its violent 

anti-Americanism. And most recently Iranian President 

Ahmadinejad undertook his sixth visit to the hemisphere, undertaking what some in the press quipped a ‘‘tyrant’s tour’’ of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador. 

The growing Iranian role in the Western Hemisphere has been 

the subject of several committee hearings and classified briefings. 

Many members are concerned, however, that the administration 

has not adequately examined or sought to counter Iran’s growing 

and hostile diplomatic and intelligence presence in our hemisphere. 

Let’s be clear. The Iranian threat isn’t just thousands of miles 

away. It is close to home. Back in the 1990s, Iran was behind the 

bombings in Argentina. More recently, Hezbollah operatives have 

penetrated our borders. The Iranian attempt to assassinate the 

Saudi Ambassador on U.S. soil using a Mexican drug cartel is the 

latest demonstration of this threat. 

Indeed, recently testifying before Congress, the Director of National Intelligence stated that Iranian officials—I’ll give his quote 

here—‘‘have changed their calculus and are now willing to conduct 

an attack in the United States.’’ The DNI went on to say that the 

Iranians are ‘‘trying to penetrate and engage in this hemisphere.’’

Besides a potential platform to conduct terrorist attacks, some 

experts see other sources of motivation for closer Iranian links to 

the hemisphere. Many believe that the countries Iran is courting 

in the Western Hemisphere can help them circumvent sanctions. 

Testifying before Congress recently, one former U.S. official 

noted,

‘‘The dangerous activities of Iran and Hezbollah so near our 

borders demand a whole of government strategy beginning 

with an interagency review to understand and assess the 

transnational multifaceted nature of this problem [and] to mobilize friendly governments to respond.’’

This bill, H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012, authored by our colleagues Mr. Duncan of 

South Carolina and Mr. Higgins of New York, two members of the 

subcommittee, requires such a review and strategy and basically 

would kick the bureaucracy into gear. With 60 co-sponsors, including myself, it deserves support. And I urge its passage. 

I remind the members of the committee that we will very soon 

have the last votes of this day on the floor. So brevity is appreciated. And, without objection, all members can submit their full 

statements for the record. 

I now recognize from the other side the member from Rhode Island for any remarks he may have before I turn to the legislation’s 

author. 

Mr. CICILLINE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I, too, am concerned, I think, as most Americans, about the growing influence of Iran in the Western Hemisphere. And I think this 

is an issue which the President and the administration are taking 

very seriously and remain fully engaged in as they monitor these 

events and confront the growing threat of Iran around the world. 

24

And I think this legislation, of course, begins with an assessment 

by the Secretary of this threat, which I think is an important step. 

And I support the legislation and thank you for the opportunity to 

make some opening comments. 

Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentleman from Rhode Island. 

Are there any other members who wish to strike the last word 

and speak on this measure? 

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I move to strike the last word and ask that my statement be submitted in its entirety into the record. 

Mr. ROYCE. That was brief. I think we are going to hold the vote 

open for a few minutes for our ranking member. I am going to 

allow Mr. Duncan, the author of the measure, then, to go ahead 

with the statement that he has submitted for the record if you 

want to elaborate on that at this moment. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Duncan follows:]

25

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JEFF DUNCAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN

CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA


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Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Sherman and Mr. Cicilline from Rhode Island, I want to start by thanking you and your staff for the assistance on this legislation. I appreciate the bipartisan cooperation on the bill today. We have 63 members who have co-sponsored it. 

And, as you all know, this bill offers us an opportunity to work together with our 

allies and partners in the Western Hemisphere to identify the mutual threats to our 

interests and act together to protect those interests. And, just of note, I met with 

an Ambassador to Mexico to further that conversation to make sure that we all understand that this is our neighborhood and that we’re working for mutual protection 

of our interest. 

And today one of the most subversive threats facing the U.S. and our neighbors 

comes from Iran’s hostile activity and strategy influence in our hemisphere. The 

United States’ vital political, economic, and security interest in the Western Hemisphere and Iran’s penetration into the region represents a threat to the U.S. as well 

as the rest of the hemisphere. 

Today Iran has nearly doubled its number of Embassies in the region from 6 to 

11. And President Ahmadinejad has also recently completed his sixth visit to the 

region. While Iran as a sovereign country does have the right to engage in public 

diplomacy, when its actions are hostile to American interests and incite anti-American views among our neighbors and would seek to use as influence to evade U.S. 

and international sanctions, we need to take notice. And we need to respond accordingly. 

Today the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Corps elite Qods force stations 

operatives in foreign Embassies, charities, religious, and cultural institutions to 

build relationships with local population. 

As the chairman mentioned, Hezbollah, considered by the U.S. State Department 

as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world, tends to use sales that 

contain a recruitment entity, fundraising entity, and operational entity. While 

Hezbollah sales may focus primarily only on fundraising, in all cases, each 

Hezbollah operative has an operational mandate. In Mexico, we have seen evidence 

of Hezbollah’s activity, the full Iranian plot just of this last June revealed by the 

administration publicly in October, as a prime example. 

The Univision documentary that was released in December on the Iranian threat, 

the established nexus between narcotrafficking and terrorism and sophisticated 

narco towing discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border provide credible evidence for 

a concern that possible terrorist networks are engaging in our hemisphere and may 

be evidence that Mexican drug trafficking organizations are tapping in to 

Hezbollah’s expertise in order to better transport drugs, people, and who knows 

what into the United States of America. 

We have also reason to suspect Iran has sought influence through Hezbollah in 

Canada. Most recently the USDA and Treasury Department’s success in effectively 

shutting down the Lebanese Canadian Bank raises question on Iran’s actions in 

Canada because the Lebanese Canadian Bank, formerly a subsidiary of the Royal 

Bank of Canada, also had offices in Montreal. 

Today many experts believe that Hezbollah is better established in North America 

and in the United States than any other terrorist organization in the world. With 

the connection between drugs, money, and terrorism, we have to wonder how many 

of these designated drug trafficking organizations are working with Hezbollah and 

other Arab networks here within the United States. 

Now, Congress had authorized trillions of dollars for military operations in the 

global war on terror in the last decade. Yet, Iran has steadily been establishing a 

presence here in our own neighborhood, from which it can exercise influence. 

What are we doing about it? Overestimating the threat does not serve the American people well, but underestimating the threat could bring great harm to the 

American people, to our friends in the region, and U.S. assets and to our allies here 

and abroad. 

So I believe this bill is necessary as a first step to redoubling our efforts to better 

understand the extent of the Iranian activity here at home by establishing a strong 

U.S. relationship with our neighbors. It requires an assessment of the threat and 

a strategy to counter Iran’s hostile actions that protects the U.S. interests and the 

assets in the Western Hemisphere, addresses U.S. vital energy security interests, 

and calls for a secure U.S. border to prevent Iranian operatives from entering the 

United States. 

Just last month, the Director of DNI, James Clapper, testified that Iranian officials are ‘‘more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real 

or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.’’

32

We need to be prepared with a strategy to counter Iran’s hostile presence in our 

neighborhood. And I ask my colleagues to and I encourage you to please support 

the bill. 

And, with that, I yield back. 

Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentleman. Your point about every agent having an operational mandate is a correct one. From our experience—and I would just cite the 

example of Mahmoud Kourani, who successfully infiltrated our country over our 

southern border in the State of California. It was done through a process whereby 

he was put in the trunk of a car, brought into this country, reached the midwest 

before it was discovered that he and a host of fellow Iranian trained agents were 

here, over 50 in total. 

And here is what was interesting about the training. It wasn’t just, as you mentioned, in fundraising. It was also in weapons training. It was also in explosives. 

It wasn’t intelligence. It was the full range of how to show terror. 

And what is equally interesting to me is that his brother was General Kourani. 

General Kourani was in charge of the bombardment during the Israel-Hezbollah 

war. And I was up in Haifa in ’06, when it was coming under attack. And I saw 

the effectiveness of these Hezbollah operatives as they were working, you know, 

these missiles that had been given to them by Iranian and Syrian forces. And the 

thought that the brother of that individual was able to go into a consulate in Beirut 

and pay a $5,000 bribe, in this case to an official from Mexico in order to get the 

phony documentation to go into Mexico and then would link up with one of these 

cartels that move people through the border in order to get through our southern 

border and the fact that we wouldn’t find him until—I think he was up in Detroit 

when he was finally apprehended. Of course, he and these other individuals subsequently were convicted, but it shows the necessity of having this legislation. And 

I am going to turn to the gentleman of Ohio, Mr. Johnson, for any remarks he might 

want to make. 

Mr. JOHNSON. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I appreciate, first of all, my colleague from South Carolina for offering H.R. 3783, 

the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012. 

This is a very, very important piece of legislation. We have seen increasing evidence. We have known it for a long time, but it is becoming increasingly evident 

to the rest of the world, certainly to the American people, of Iran’s intentions to negatively impact the freedoms and the liberties that we enjoy here in America. 

And so I stand in full support of this piece of legislation. And I again want to 

thank my colleague for introducing it. 

Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentleman from Ohio. 

Hearing no further requests to speak, are there any amendments? 

[No response.] 

Mr. ROYCE. Hearing no further amendments, the question is on agreeing to the 

amendment in the nature of a substitute. All of those in favor say aye. 

[Chorus of ayes.] 

Mr. ROYCE. All those opposed? 

[No response.] 

Mr. ROYCE. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it. And the amendment 

in the nature of a substitute is agreed to. Without objection, the bill, as amended, 

will be reported favorably to the full committee in the form of a single amendment 

in the nature of a substitute. And the staff is directed to make any technical and 

conforming amendments. 

We are not going to adjourn because our ranking member I believe wanted to say 

a few remarks, make a few brief remarks on this legislation. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

This bill is so important that I felt my opportunity to pontificate on it was less 

important than moving it as quickly as possible. As you know, you wanted to schedule this hearing at a time when I couldn’t be here. 

Mr. ROYCE. However, without objection——

Mr. SHERMAN. I made it in time to——

Mr. ROYCE. You did. 

Mr. SHERMAN [continuing]. Thank you for your decision to schedule the meeting 

at a time when you could move this bill. 

Mr. ROYCE. If I could interrupt? Without objection, I would like to move for a 

revote. And at the same time, I am going to yield to the ranking member for his 

opening statement. 

Mr. Sherman, we’re fine. We’ve got over 10 minutes before the clock. 

Mr. SHERMAN. I thank the chairman for his indulgence. 

I have long advocated the strongest possible sanctions on Iran due to its terrorism. And perhaps the greatest example of the worldwide ambitions of Iran took 

33

place in the early 1990s when they attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina and 

the Jewish Cultural Center there as well. 

But just recently Iranian agents planned to kill a Saudi Ambassador on U.S. soil. 

This demonstrates that Iran is not content to make mischief in the old world. They 

have come to our hemisphere as well. I believe the strongest possible sanctions and 

the maximum possible diplomatic isolation of Iran—that’s why I am glad that just 

yesterday Ben Bernanke said that he would use his voice and vote to assert a 

supervisorial role over the Swiss system to prevent Iranian banks from conducting 

business with banks around the world providing he had a clear indication from 

those concerned with national security that that was indeed a good U.S. policy. 

Then in this room just yesterday Secretary Clinton in response to my question 

said, ‘‘Yes, indeed, that would be a furtherance of U.S. policy.’’

And we need the strongest possible sanctions. Last year I introduced the Stop 

Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program Act, much of which has been included in legislation passed by the House through the Iran Threat Reduction Act. 

The legislation will hopefully be the subject of a conference once the Senate passes 

its version. The Iran Threat Reduction Act includes the toughest sanctions yet on 

the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Qods Force. And these are among the 

provisions I authored. 

I am currently compiling provisions that didn’t make it into ITRA along with 

other provisions in a new package, which I will introduce soon. And my goal is to 

keep introducing the strongest possible sanctions bills against Iran until that government changes its policies. 

Since 2003, I have worked with Chairman Royce on this subcommittee, where we 

have focused on so many issues of proliferation. And I am perhaps more concerned 

about those impending votes than our chairman. So I will put the rest of the statement in the record and thank him for his decision to revote our action here. 

Mr. ROYCE. Well, I thank the ranking member. 

And, without objection, we will void the prior vote and consider the question de 

novo. The question is on agreeing to the amendment in the nature of a substitute. 

All of those in favor say aye. 

[Chorus of ayes.] 

Mr. ROYCE. All those opposed, no? 

[No response.] 

Mr. ROYCE. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it. And the amendment 

in the nature of a substitute is agreed to. Without objection, the bill, as amended, 

will be reported favorably to the full committee in the form of a single amendment 

in the nature of a substitute. And the staff is directed to make any technical and 

conforming amendments. 

That concludes our business. The subcommittee stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:25 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

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