IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4324 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18, 2017 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to make certifications with respect to United States and foreign financial institutions’ aircraft-related transactions involving 

Iran, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Over3 sight of Iran’s Access to Finance Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Ac7 tion (JCPOA), informally known as the Iran nuclear 

8 deal, the Obama administration agreed to license the 

9 sale of commercial passenger aircraft to Iran, the 

10 world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and a ju11 risdiction of primary money laundering concern. 

12 (2) In April 2015, prior to the adoption of the 

13 JCPOA, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, in 

14 publicly advocating for its provisions, stated: ‘‘Make 

15 no mistake: deal or no deal, we will continue to use 

16 all our available tools, including sanctions, to 

17 counter Iran’s menacing behavior. Iran knows that 

18 our host of sanctions focused on its support for ter19 rorism and its violations of human rights are not, 

20 and have never been, up for discussion.’’. 

21 (3) In March 2016 remarks to the Carnegie 

22 Endowment for International Peace, Secretary Lew, 

23 in reference to U.S. commitments under the 

24 JCPOA, stated: ‘‘While we have lifted the nuclear 

25 sanctions, we continue to enforce sanctions directed 


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1 at support for terrorism and regional destabilization, 

2 and missile and human rights violations.’’. 

3 (4) In an April 2016 forum at the Council on 

4 Foreign Relations, Secretary Lew stated that, under 

5 the JCPOA, the U.S. committed to lifting its nu6 clear sanctions, ‘‘but the U.S. financial system is not 

7 open to Iran, and that is not something that is going 

8 to change’’. 

9 (5) In September 2016, the Department of the 

10 Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) 

11 issued licenses permitting the export of up to 97 air12 craft for use by Iran Air, the Islamic Republic of 

13 Iran’s flagship state-owned carrier. These licenses 

14 included authorization for U.S. financial institutions 

15 ‘‘to engage in all transactions necessary to provide 

16 financing or other financial services’’ in order to ef17 fectuate the sales. In November 2016, OFAC li18 censed an additional 106 aircraft for purchase by 

19 Iran Air, which are also eligible for financing au20 thorized by OFAC. 

21 (6) The Department of the Treasury had sanc22 tioned Iran Air in 2011 for its use of commercial 

23 passenger aircraft to transport rockets, missiles, and 

24 other military cargo on behalf of the Islamic Revolu25 tionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Ministry of 


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1 Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, both of which 

2 had been designated under Executive Order No. 

3 13382 for weapons proliferation-related activities. In 

4 October 2017, the IRGC went on to be designated 

5 under Executive Order No. 13224 for its support of 

6 the IRGC-Qods Force, which has provided support 

7 to terrorist groups such as Hizballah, Hamas, and 

8 the Taliban. 

9 (7) Among Iran Air’s sanctionable activities, 

10 the airline delivered missile or rocket components to 

11 the Assad government in Syria, which like Iran is 

12 classified as a state sponsor of terrorism. 

13 (8) The Assad regime is responsible for a civil 

14 conflict that has claimed an estimated 400,000 lives, 

15 including through the government’s deployment of 

16 chemical weapons and barrel bombs against un17 armed civilians and children. 

18 (9) Despite being delisted in 2016, Iran Air has 

19 continued to fly known weapons resupply routes to 

20 government-controlled areas of Syria. According to 

21 research by the Foundation for Defense of Democ22 racies, between Implementation Day of the JCPOA 

23 on January 16, 2016, and May 4, 2017, Iran Air 

24 operated at least 134 flights to Syria, which inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Dec 19, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4324.RFS H4324

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1 cluded stops in Abadan, Iran, a suspected IRGC 

2 logistical hub for airlifts to the Assad regime. 

3 (10) In November 2016 correspondence to the 

4 Chairman of the House Committee on Financial 

5 Services, the Department of the Treasury noted that 

6 the commitment to delist Iran Air under the JCPOA 

7 ‘‘does not affect our ability to designate, or re-des8 ignate, any Iranian airline that engages in 

9 sanctionable activity. The United States retains the 

10 ability to designate any individual or entity that en11 gages in sanctionable activities under our authorities 

12 targeting conduct outside the scope of the JCPOA, 

13 including Iran’s support for terrorism, human rights 

14 abuses, ballistic missile program, and other desta15 bilizing activities in the region.’’. 

16 (11) In April 2017, Iran announced a deal for 

17 Aseman Airlines to purchase up to 60 commercial 

18 aircraft, a transaction that would require authoriza19 tion by OFAC. Aseman Airlines’ chief executive offi20 cer, Hossein Alaei, has for decades served as a sen21 ior member of the IRGC. 


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1 SEC. 3. CERTIFICATIONS FOR AIRCRAFT-RELATED TRANS2 ACTIONS BY UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN 

3 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after au5 thorizing a transaction by a United States or foreign fi6 nancial institution in connection with the export or re-ex7 port of a commercial passenger aircraft to Iran (or, for 

8 an authorization made after January 16, 2016, but before 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act, not later than 60 

10 days after such date of enactment), and every 180 days 

11 thereafter for the duration of the authorization, the Sec12 retary of the Treasury shall submit the report described 

13 under subsection (b) to the appropriate congressional com14 mittees. 

15 (b) REPORT WITH RESPECT TO FINANCIAL INSTITU16 TIONS’ IRAN-RELATED TRANSACTIONS AND DUE DILI17 GENCE.—With respect to a financial institution and a 

18 transaction described under subsection (a), a report is de19 scribed under this subsection if it contains— 

20 (1) a list of financial institutions that, since 

21 January 16, 2016, have conducted transactions au22 thorized by the Secretary in connection with the ex23 port or re-export of commercial passenger aircraft to 

24 Iran; and 

25 (2) either— 

26 (A) a certification that— 


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1 (i) the transaction does not pose a 

2 significant money laundering or terrorism 

3 financing risk to the United States finan4 cial system; 

5 (ii) the transaction will not benefit an 

6 Iranian person that, since the date that is 

7 1 year preceding the date of the certifi8 cation— 

9 (I) has knowingly transported 

10 items used for the proliferation of 

11 weapons of mass destruction, includ12 ing systems designed in whole or in 

13 part for the delivery of such weapons; 

14 (II) has knowingly transported 

15 items used to establish in Syria a per16 manent military presence of either 

17 Iranian military forces or Iranian 

18 backed militia; or 

19 (III) has knowingly provided 

20 transportation services or material 

21 support for, or on behalf of, any per22 son designated under Executive Order 

23 Nos. 13224, 13382, or 13572; and 

24 (iii) any financial institution described 

25 under subsection (b)(1) has had since the 


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1 date such authorization was made, or, if 

2 the authorization is no longer in effect, 

3 had for the duration of such authorization, 

4 appropriate policies, procedures, and proc5 esses in place to avoid engaging in 

6 sanctionable activities that may result from 

7 the financial institutions’ exposure to Iran; 

8 or 

9 (B) a statement that the Secretary is un10 able to make the certification described under 

11 subparagraph (A) and a notice that the Sec12 retary will, not later than 60 days after the 

13 date the determination is submitted to the ap14 propriate congressional committees, issue a re15 port on non-certification described under sub16 section (c) to the appropriate congressional 

17 committees. 

18 (c) REPORT ON NON-CERTIFICATION.—With respect 

19 to a financial institution and a transaction described 

20 under subsection (a), a report on non-certification is de21 scribed under this subsection if it contains— 

22 (1) a detailed explanation for why the Secretary 

23 is unable to make the certification described under 

24 subsection (b)(2); 


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1 (2) a notification of whether the Secretary 

2 will— 

3 (A) not amend the authorization of the 

4 transaction with respect to a financial institu5 tion, notwithstanding such non-certification; 

6 (B) suspend the authorization until the 

7 Secretary is able to make such certification; 

8 (C) revoke the authorization; or 

9 (D) otherwise amend the authorization; 

10 and 

11 (3) an explanation of the reasons for any action 

12 to be taken described under paragraph (2). 

13 (d) WAIVER.—The President may waive, on a case14 by-case basis, the provisions of this Act for up to 1 year 

15 at a time upon certifying to the appropriate congressional 

16 committees that— 

17 (1) the Government of Iran has— 

18 (A) made substantial progress towards 

19 combating money laundering and terrorism fi20 nancing risk emanating from Iran; or 

21 (B) has significantly reduced Iran’s— 

22 (i) destabilizing activities in the re23 gion; or 

24 (ii) material support for terrorist 

25 groups; or 


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1 (2) such waiver is important to the national se2 curity interests of the United States, with an expla3 nation of the reasons therefor. 

4 (e) TERMINATION.—This section shall cease to be ef5 fective on the date that is 30 days after the date on which 

6 the President certifies to the appropriate congressional 

7 committees that— 

8 (1)(A) the Secretary does not find, under sec9 tion 5318A of title 31, United States Code, that rea10 sonable grounds exist for concluding that Iran is a 

11 jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern; 

12 and 

13 (B) Iran has ceased providing support for acts 

14 of international terrorism; or 

15 (2) terminating the provisions of this section is 

16 vital to the national security interests of the United 

17 States, with an explanation of the reasons therefor. 

18 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

19 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT20 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com21 mittees’’ means the committees on Financial Serv22 ices and Foreign Affairs of the House of Represent23 atives and the committees on Banking, Housing, and 

24 Urban Affairs and Foreign Relations of the Senate. 


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1 (2) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi2 nancial institution’’ means a United States financial 

3 institution or a foreign financial institution. 

4 (3) FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The 

5 term ‘‘foreign financial institution’’ has the meaning 

6 given that term under section 561.308 of title 31, 

7 Code of Federal Regulations. 

8 (4) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 

9 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 

10 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 

11 have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 

12 result. 

13 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

14 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

15 (6) UNITED STATES FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.— 

16 The term ‘‘United States financial institution’’ has 

17 the meaning given the term ‘‘U.S. financial institu18 tion’’ under section 561.309 of title 31, Code of 

19 Federal Regulations. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 14, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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