II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 892 

To amend the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 

2012 to impose sanctions with respect to certain transactions in foreign 

currencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 8, 2013 

Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. MANCHIN, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. NELSON, and Mr. 

CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human 

Rights Act of 2012 to impose sanctions with respect 

to certain transactions in foreign currencies, 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 Sanctions Loop5 hole Elimination Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CER2 TAIN TRANSACTIONS IN FOREIGN CUR3 RENCIES. 

4 (a) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—Subtitle B of title 

5 II of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 

6 Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8721 et seq.) is amended by in7 serting after section 220 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 220A. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 

9 CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS IN FOREIGN CUR10 RENCIES. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President— 

12 ‘‘(1) shall prohibit the opening, and prohibit or 

13 impose strict conditions on the maintaining, in the 

14 United States of a correspondent account or a pay15 able-through account by a foreign financial institu16 tion that is a person described in subsection (b); and 

17 ‘‘(2) may impose sanctions pursuant to the 

18 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

19 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) with respect to any other per20 son described in subsection (b). 

21 ‘‘(b) PERSON DESCRIBED.—A person described in 

22 this subsection is a person the President determines has, 

23 on or after May 9, 2013— 

24 ‘‘(1) knowingly conducted or facilitated a sig25 nificant transaction involving the currency of a coun26 try other than the country in which the person is opVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:18 May 10, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S892.IS S892

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1 erating at the time of the transaction with, for, or 

2 on behalf of— 

3 ‘‘(A) the Central Bank of Iran or another 

4 Iranian financial institution designated by the 

5 Secretary of the Treasury for the imposition of 

6 sanctions pursuant to the International Emer7 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

8 seq.); or 

9 ‘‘(B) a person described in section 

10 1244(c)(2) of the Iran Freedom and Counter11 Proliferation Act (22 U.S.C. 8803(c)(2)) (other 

12 than a person described in subparagraph 

13 (C)(iii) of that section); or 

14 ‘‘(2) knowingly transferred funds for, or held 

15 funds on behalf of, a person described in paragraph 

16 (1) in relation to a transaction described in that 

17 paragraph, without regard to the currency of those 

18 funds. 

19 ‘‘(c) WAIVER.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President may waive 

21 the application of subsection (a) with respect to a 

22 person for a period of not more than 180 days, and 

23 may renew that waiver for additional periods of not 

24 more than 180 days, if the President— 


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1 ‘‘(A) determines that the waiver is vital to 

2 the national security of the United States; and 

3 ‘‘(B) not less than 7 days before the waiv4 er or the renewal of the waiver, as the case may 

5 be, takes effect, submits a report to the appro6 priate congressional committees on the waiver 

7 and the reason for the waiver. 

8 ‘‘(2) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report sub9 mitted under paragraph (1)(B) shall be submitted in 

10 unclassified form but may include a classified annex. 

11 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec12 tion shall be construed to prohibit any person from, or 

13 authorize or require the imposition of sanctions with re14 spect to any person for, conducting or facilitating any 

15 transaction in the currency of the country in which the 

16 person is operating at the time of the transaction for the 

17 sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or med18 ical devices. 

19 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 ‘‘(1) ACCOUNT; CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT; 

21 PAYABLE-THROUGH ACCOUNT.—The terms ‘ac22 count’, ‘correspondent account’, and ‘payable23 through account’ have the meanings given those 

24 terms in section 5318A of title 31, United States 

25 Code. 


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1 ‘‘(2) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.—The term 

2 ‘agricultural commodity’ has the meaning given that 

3 term in section 102 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 

4 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602). 

5 ‘‘(3) FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The 

6 term ‘foreign financial institution’ has the meaning 

7 given that term in section 561.308 of title 31, Code 

8 of Federal Regulations (or any corresponding similar 

9 regulation or ruling). 

10 ‘‘(4) IRANIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The 

11 term ‘Iranian financial institution’ has the meaning 

12 given that term in section 104A(d) of the Com13 prehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Di14 vestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513b(d)). 

15 ‘‘(5) MEDICAL DEVICE.—The term ‘medical de16 vice’ has the meaning given the term ‘device’ in sec17 tion 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 

18 Act (21 U.S.C. 321). 

19 ‘‘(6) MEDICINE.—The term ‘medicine’ has the 

20 meaning given the term ‘drug’ in section 201 of the 

21 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 

22 321). 

23 ‘‘(7) TRANSACTION.—The term ‘transaction’ in24 cludes a foreign exchange swap, a foreign exchange 


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1 forward, and any other type of currency exchange or 

2 conversion or derivative instrument.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—Section 601(a)(1) of 

5 the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 

6 Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8781(a)(1)) is amended by 

7 inserting ‘‘220A,’’ after ‘‘220,’’. 

8 (2) PENALTIES.—Section 601(b)(2)(A) of such 

9 Act (22 U.S.C. 8781(b)(2)(A)) is amended by strik10 ing ‘‘and 220,’’ and inserting ‘‘220, and 220A,’’. 

11 (3) TERMINATION.—Section 605(a) of such Act 

12 (22 U.S.C. 8785(a)) is amended by inserting 

13 ‘‘220A,’’ after ‘‘220,’’. 

14 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

15 for the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 

16 Act of 2012 is amended by inserting after the item relat17 ing to section 220 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 220A. Imposition of sanctions with respect to certain transactions in foreign currencies.’’. 

Æ 


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