IB 

Union Calendar No. 491 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4744 

[Report No. 115–642, Part I] 

To impose additional sanctions with respect to serious human rights abuses 

of the Government of Iran, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2018 

Mr. MCCAUL (for himself, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. ROYCE of California, and Mr. 

ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Financial Services, 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 

APRIL 18, 2018 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. LANCE, Mr. 

MEADOWS, Mr. WALKER, Mr. SESSIONS, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. POSEY, Mr. 

CHABOT, Mr. SIRES, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. 

SUOZZI, Mr. DONOVAN, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. 

RUSH, Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of Florida, Mr. COOK, Mr. RENACCI, Mr. 

MAST, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. 

OLSON, Mr. HUDSON, Mrs. TORRES, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. 

ROSKAM, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. WENSTRUP, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. KINZINGER, 

Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. POE of Texas, and Mr. GROTHMAN

APRIL 18, 2018 

Reported from the Committee on Foreign Affairs with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 


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APRIL 18, 2018 

The Committees on the Judiciary, Financial Services, and Ways and Means 

discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 9, 2018] 

A BILL 

To impose additional sanctions with respect to serious human 

rights abuses of the Government of Iran, and for other 

purposes. 


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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 Human Rights 

5 and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLA7 TIONS BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Iran is a member of the United Nations, 

10 voted for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 

11 and is a signatory to the International Covenant on 

12 Civil and Political Rights, among other international 

13 human rights treaties. 

14 (2) In violation of these and other international 

15 obligations, Iranian regime officials continue to vio16 late the fundamental human rights of the Iranian 

17 people. 

18 (3) The Iranian regime persecutes ethnic and re19 ligious minority groups, such as the Baha’is, Chris20 tians, Sufi, Sunni, and dissenting Shi’a Muslims 

21 (such as imprisoned Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni 

22 Boroujerdi), through harassment, arrests, and impris23 onment, during which detainees have routinely been 

24 beaten, tortured, and killed. 


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1 (4) Following voting irregularities that resulted 

2 in the 2009 election of President Mahmoud 

3 Ahmadinejad, the Iranian regime brutally suppressed 

4 peaceful political dissent from wide segments of civil 

5 society during the Green Revolution in a cynical at6 tempt to retain its undemocratic grip on power. 

7 (5) Since February 2011 the leaders of Iran’s 

8 Green Movement, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein 

9 Mousavi, his wife Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, and former 

10 Speaker of the Majles (parliament) Mehdi Karroubi, 

11 have lived under strict house arrest, ordered by Iran’s 

12 Supreme National Security Council. 

13 (6) In 1999 the Iranian regime brutally sup14 pressed a student revolt that was one of the largest 

15 mass uprisings up until that point in the country 

16 since 1979. 

17 (7) Over a 4-month period in 1988, the Iranian 

18 regime carried out the barbaric mass executions of 

19 thousands of political prisoners by hanging and fir20 ing squad for refusing to renounce their political af21 filiations and in some cases for possessing political 

22 reading material, including prisoners of conscience, 

23 teenagers, and pregnant women. In a recently dis24 closed audiotape, the late Hussein Ali Montazeri, a 

25 grand ayatollah who served as former Supreme leader 


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1 Khomeini’s chief deputy, said that the 1988 mass 

2 killings were ‘‘the greatest crime committed during 

3 the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn 

4 us’’. 

5 (8) Senior governmental, military, and public 

6 security officials in Iran have continued ordering, 

7 controlling, and committing egregious human rights 

8 violations that, in many cases, represent official poli9 cies of the Iranian regime. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con11 gress that the United States should— 

12 (1) deny the Government of Iran the ability to 

13 continue to oppress the people of Iran and to use vio14 lence and executions to silence pro-democracy 

15 protestors; 

16 (2) work with international partners to inves17 tigate human rights violations by senior officials of 

18 the Government of Iran, regardless of where or when 

19 such violations took place; 

20 (3) support efforts made by the people of Iran to 

21 promote the establishment of basic freedoms that build 

22 the foundation for the emergence of a freely elected, 

23 open, non-corrupt and democratic political system; 

24 (4) condemn Iranian human rights abuses 

25 against dissidents, including the massacre in 1988 


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1 and the suppression of political demonstrations in 

2 1999, 2009, and 2017, and pressure the Government 

3 of Iran to provide family members detailed informa4 tion that they were denied about the final resting 

5 places of any missing victims of such abuses; and 

6 (5) help the people of Iran produce, access, and 

7 share information freely and safely via the internet 

8 and other media. 

9 (c) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy of 

10 the United States to stand with the people of Iran who seek 

11 the opportunity to freely elect a government of their choos12 ing, and increase the utilization of all available authorities 

13 to impose sanctions on officials of the Government of Iran 

14 and other individuals responsible for serious human rights 

15 abuses. 

16 SEC. 3. DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO IMPOSITION 

17 OF SANCTIONS ON CERTAIN PERSONS RE18 SPONSIBLE FOR OR COMPLICIT IN HUMAN 

19 RIGHTS ABUSES, ENGAGING IN CENSORSHIP, 

20 ENGAGING IN THE DIVERSION OF GOODS IN21 TENDED FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAN, OR EN22 GAGING IN CORRUPTION. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit 

25 to the appropriate congressional committees a report conVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:29 Apr 18, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4744.RH H4744

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1 taining a determination of whether any senior officials of 

2 the Government of Iran or other Iranian persons meet the 

3 criteria described in— 

4 (1) subsection (b) of section 105D of the Com5 prehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Di6 vestment Act of 2010, as added by section 5 of this 

7 Act; or 

8 (2) paragraph (3) or (4) of section 1263(a) of the 

9 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

10 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note). 

11 (b) REVIEW OF CERTAIN ENTITIES.—The report re12 quired under subsection (a) shall contain a review of any 

13 activities of cooperative foundations or bonyads in Iran 

14 with a capitalization that exceeds $200,000,000 and that 

15 meet the criteria in paragraph (3) or (4) of section 1263(a) 

16 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

17 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) for pur18 poses of corruption. 

19 (c) FORM OF REPORT; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

20 (1) FORM.—The report required under subsection 

21 (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

22 contain a classified annex. 

23 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclassified por24 tion of such report shall be made available to the pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:29 Apr 18, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4744.RH H4744

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1 lic and posted on the internet website of the Depart2 ment of the Treasury— 

3 (A) in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri; 

4 and 

5 (B) in precompressed, easily downloadable 

6 versions that are made available in all appro7 priate formats. 

8 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro9 priate congressional committees’’ means— 

10 (1) the Committee on Financial Services and the 

11 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep12 resentatives; and 

13 (2) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

14 Urban Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Rela15 tions of the Senate. 

16 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES POLICY ON HOSTAGE-TAKING BY 

17 THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN. 

18 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

19 (1) Since 1979 the Iranian regime has engaged 

20 in various destabilizing activities that undermine the 

21 national security of the United States and its allies 

22 and partners. 

23 (2) These activities include the hostage-taking or 

24 prolonged arbitrary detentions of United States citi25 zens and other persons with connections to Canada, 


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1 the United Kingdom, France, and other nations allied 

2 with the United States. 

3 (3) The Iranian regime has detained on fab4 ricated claims a significant number of United States 

5 citizens, including Siamak and Baquer Namazi and 

6 Xiyue Wang, as well as United States legal perma7 nent resident, Nizar Zakka, in violation of inter8 national legal norms. 

9 (4) The Iranian regime has not provided infor10 mation on the whereabouts of or assistance in ensur11 ing the prompt and safe return of Robert Levinson, 

12 despite repeated promises to do so, after he was kid13 napped while visiting Iran’s Kish Island on March 9, 

14 2007—making him the longest held hostage in United 

15 States history. 

16 (5) The Iranian regime reportedly uses hostages 

17 as leverage against foreign investors to exact business 

18 concessions in foreign investment deals. 

19 (6) The type of hostage-taking enterprise put in 

20 place by the Iranian regime is a crime against hu21 manity and a violation of customary international 

22 law. 

23 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con24 gress that— 


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1 (1) the Administration should fully utilize all 

2 necessary and appropriate measures to prevent the 

3 Iranian regime from engaging in hostage-taking or 

4 the prolonged arbitrary detention of United States 

5 citizens or legal permanent resident aliens, to in6 clude— 

7 (A) the use of extradition to try and convict 

8 those individuals responsible for ordering or con9 trolling the hostage-taking or arbitrary detention 

10 of United States citizens; and 

11 (B) the use of the Department of Homeland 

12 Security’s Human Rights Violators and War 

13 Crimes Center to target such individuals; and 

14 (2) the United States should encourage its allies 

15 and other affected countries to pursue the criminal 

16 prosecution and extradition of state and non-state ac17 tors in Iran that assist in or benefit from such hos18 tage-taking to prevent such state and non-state actors 

19 from engaging in this practice in the future. 

20 (c) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

21 United States Government not to pay ransom for the pur22 pose of securing the release of United States citizens or legal 

23 permanent resident aliens taken hostage abroad. 

24 (d) STRATEGY.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

25 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 


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1 submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 

2 of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations 

3 of the Senate a report that contains a strategy to prevent 

4 elements of the Iranian regime from engaging in hostage5 taking or the prolonged arbitrary detention of United States 

6 citizens or legal permanent resident aliens. 

7 SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO IRA8 NIAN PERSONS WHO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN AC9 TIONS AGAINST UNITED STATES CITIZENS OR 

10 IRANIAN PERSONS. 

11 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

12 that the United States should coordinate with United States 

13 allies and other allies and partners whose citizens may be 

14 subject to politically-motivated detention or trial in Iran, 

15 to apply sanctions against Iranian persons that are respon16 sible for or complicit in, or responsible for ordering, control17 ling, or otherwise directing, such detention or trial. 

18 (b) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Comprehensive Iran 

19 Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 is 

20 amended by inserting after section 105C (22 U.S.C. 8514c) 

21 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 105D. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 

2 IRANIAN PERSONS WHO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN 

3 ACTIONS AGAINST UNITED STATES CITIZENS 

4 OR IRANIAN PERSONS. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose sanc6 tions described in section 105(c) with respect to each person 

7 on the list required by subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(b) LIST OF IRANIAN PERSONS WHO ENGAGE IN

9 CERTAIN ACTIONS AGAINST UNITED STATES CITIZENS OR

10 IRANIAN PERSONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

12 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

13 President shall submit to the appropriate congres14 sional committees a list of Iranian persons that the 

15 President determines, are knowingly— 

16 ‘‘(A) responsible for or complicit in, or re17 sponsible for ordering or otherwise directing, the 

18 politically-motivated harassment, abuse, extor19 tion, or extended detention or trial of citizens of 

20 the United States or United States legal perma21 nent resident aliens, regardless of whether such 

22 actions occurred in Iran; or 

23 ‘‘(B) responsible for or complicit in, or re24 sponsible for ordering or otherwise directing, the 

25 politically-motivated harassment, abuse, extor26 tion, or extended detention or trial of Iranians, 


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1 Iranian residents, or persons of Iranian origin 

2 outside of Iran. 

3 ‘‘(2) UPDATES OF LIST.—The President shall 

4 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

5 an updated list under paragraph (1)— 

6 ‘‘(A) each time the President is required to 

7 submit an updated list to those committees under 

8 section 105(b)(2)(A); and 

9 ‘‘(B) as new information becomes available. 

10 ‘‘(3) FORM OF REPORT; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

11 ‘‘(A) FORM.—The list required by para12 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form 

13 but may contain a classified annex. 

14 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclassi15 fied portion of the list required by paragraph (1) 

16 shall be made available to the public and posted 

17 on the websites of the Department of the Treas18 ury and the Department of State. 

19 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION OF SANCTIONS TO IMMEDIATE FAM20 ILY MEMBERS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized 

22 to impose sanctions described in paragraph (2) with 

23 respect to each person that is a family member of any 

24 person on the list required by subsection (b). 


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1 ‘‘(2) ALIENS INELIGIBLE FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, 

2 OR PAROLE.— 

3 ‘‘(A) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 

4 alien who the Secretary of State or the Secretary 

5 of Homeland Security (or a designee of one of 

6 such Secretaries) knows, or has reason to believe, 

7 is a family member of any person on the list re8 quired by subsection (b) is— 

9 ‘‘(i) inadmissible to the United States; 

10 ‘‘(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or 

11 other documentation to enter the United 

12 States; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admit14 ted or paroled into the United States or to 

15 receive any other benefit under the Immi16 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 

17 et seq.). 

18 ‘‘(B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The issuing con20 sular officer, the Secretary of State, or the 

21 Secretary of Homeland Security (or a des22 ignee of one of such Secretaries) shall revoke 

23 any visa or other entry documentation 

24 issued to an alien who is a family member 


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1 of any person on the list required by sub2 section (b) regardless of when issued. 

3 ‘‘(ii) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.—A rev4 ocation under clause (i)— 

5 ‘‘(I) shall take effect immediately; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(II) shall automatically cancel 

8 any other valid visa or entry docu9 mentation that is in the alien’s posses10 sion. 

11 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA12 TIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 

13 under paragraph (2) shall not apply to an alien if 

14 admitting the alien into the United States is nec15 essary to permit the United States to comply with the 

16 Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United 

17 Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and 

18 entered into force November 21, 1947, between the 

19 United Nations and the United States, or other appli20 cable international obligations. 

21 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION OF FAMILY MEMBER.—In this 

22 section, the term ‘family member’ means, with respect 

23 to an individual— 

24 ‘‘(A) a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grand25 child, or grandparent of the individual; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) a spouse’s child, parent, or sibling. 

2 ‘‘(d) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The provisions of 

3 this section shall terminate on the date that is 30 days after 

4 the date on which the President— 

5 ‘‘(1) determines and certifies to the appropriate 

6 congressional committees that the Government of Iran 

7 is no longer complicit in or responsible for the wrong8 ful and unlawful detention of United States citizens 

9 or legal permanent resident aliens; and 

10 ‘‘(2) transmits to the appropriate congressional 

11 committees the certification described in section 

12 105(d) of this Act.’’. 

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents for 

14 the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Di15 vestment Act of 2010 is amended by inserting after the item 

16 relating to section 105C the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 105D. Imposition of sanctions with respect to Iranian persons who engage 

in certain actions against United States citizens or Iranian persons.’’. 

17 (d) AMENDMENTS TO GENERAL PROVISIONS.—Section 

18 401 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, 

19 and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8551) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘and 305’’ and 

21 inserting ‘‘, 105D, and 305’’; and 

22 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘or 105C(a)’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘105C(a), or 105D(a)’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘or 105C(b)’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘105C(b), or 105D(b)’’. 

3 SEC. 6. CONSOLIDATION OF CERTAIN REPORTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any and all reports required to be 

5 submitted to Congress under this Act, any amendment made 

6 by this Act, or a covered provision of law that are subject 

7 to a deadline for submission consisting of the same unit 

8 of time may be consolidated into a single report that is sub9 mitted to Congress pursuant to such deadline. 

10 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The consolidated re11 ports shall contain all information required under this Act, 

12 any amendment made by this Act, or a covered provision 

13 of law, in addition to all other elements required by pre14 vious law. 

15 (c) COVERED PROVISIONS OF LAW.—In this section, 

16 the term ‘‘covered provision of law’’ means the following: 

17 (1) The Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (Public Law 

18 104–172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note). 

19 (2) The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Account20 ability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (Public Law 

21 111–195; 22 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.). 

22 (3) The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria 

23 Human Rights Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–158; 22 

24 U.S.C. 8701 et seq.). 


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1 (4) The Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation 

2 Act of 2012 (subtitle D of title XII of the National 

3 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013; 22 

4 U.S.C. 8801 et seq.). 

5 (5) Section 1245 of the National Defense Author6 ization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8513a). 


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Union Calendar No. 491 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4744 

[Report No. 115–642, Part I] 

A BILL 

To impose additional sanctions with respect to seriIran, and for other purposes. ous human rights abuses of the Government of 

APRIL 18, 2018 

Reported from the Committee on Foreign Affairs with an 

amendment 

APRIL 18, 2018 

The Committees on the Judiciary, Financial Services, 

Union and ordered to be printed Committee of the Whole House on the State of the and Ways and Means discharged; committed to the 


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