I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6245 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on financial institutions’ 

involvement with officials of the Iranian Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 6, 2023 

Mr. HILL (for himself and Mr. VARGAS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on financial institutions’ involvement with officials of the Iranian 

Government, 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 ‘‘Holding Iranian Lead5 ers Accountable Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Iran is characterized by high levels of offi9 cial and institutional corruption, and substantial in10 volvement by Iran’s security forces, particularly the 


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1 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the 

2 economy. 

3 (2) The Department of Treasury in 2019 des4 ignated the Islamic Republic of Iran’s financial sec5 tor as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering 

6 concern, concluding, ‘‘Iran has developed covert 

7 methods for accessing the international financial sys8 tem and pursuing its malign activities, including 

9 misusing banks and exchange houses, operating pro10 curement networks that utilize front or shell compa11 nies, exploiting commercial shipping, and masking il12 licit transactions using senior officials, including 

13 those at the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).’’ 

14 (3) In June 2019, the Financial Action Task 

15 Force (FATF) urged all jurisdictions to require in16 creased supervisory examination for branches and 

17 subsidiaries of financial institutions based in Iran. 

18 The FATF later called upon its members to intro19 duce enhanced relevant reporting mechanisms or 

20 systematic reporting of financial transactions, and 

21 require increased external audit requirements, for fi22 nancial groups with respect to any of their branches 

23 and subsidiaries located in Iran. 

24 (4) According to the State Department’s 

25 ‘‘Country Reports on Terrorism’’ in 2021, ‘‘Iran 


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1 continued to be the leading state sponsor of ter2 rorism, facilitating a wide range of terrorist and 

3 other illicit activities around the world. Regionally, 

4 Iran supported acts of terrorism in Bahrain, Iraq, 

5 Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen through proxies and 

6 partner groups such as Hizballah and Hamas.’’ 

7 SEC. 3. REPORT ON FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND ASSETS 

8 CONNECTED TO CERTAIN IRANIAN OFFI9 CIALS. 

10 (a) FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND ASSETS RE11 PORT.— 

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

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

14 every 2 years thereafter, the President shall submit 

15 a report to the appropriate Members of Congress 

16 containing— 

17 (A) the estimated total funds or assets 

18 that are under direct or indirect control by each 

19 of the natural persons described under sub20 section (b), and a description of such funds or 

21 assets, except that the President may limit cov22 erage of the report to not fewer than 5 of such 

23 natural persons in order to meet the submission 

24 deadline described under this paragraph; 


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1 (B) a description of how such funds or as2 sets were acquired, and how they have been 

3 used or employed; 

4 (C) a list of any non-Iranian financial in5 stitutions that— 

6 (i) maintain an account in connection 

7 with funds or assets described in subpara8 graph (A); or 

9 (ii) knowingly provide significant fi10 nancial services to a natural person cov11 ered by the report; and 

12 (D) a description of any illicit or corrupt 

13 means employed to acquire or use such funds or 

14 assets. 

15 (2) EXEMPTIONS.—The requirements described 

16 under paragraph (1) may not be applied with re17 spect to a natural person or a financial institution, 

18 as the case may be, if the President determines: 

19 (A) The funds or assets described under 

20 subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) were ac21 quired through legal or noncorrupt means. 

22 (B) The natural person has agreed to pro23 vide significant cooperation to the United 

24 States for an important national security or law 

25 enforcement purpose with respect to Iran. 


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1 (C) A financial institution that would oth2 erwise be listed in the report required by para3 graph (1) has agreed to— 

4 (i) no longer maintain an account de5 scribed under subparagraph (C)(i) of para6 graph (1); 

7 (ii) no longer provide significant fi8 nancial services to a natural person cov9 ered by the report; or 

10 (iii) provide significant cooperation to 

11 the United States for an important na12 tional security or law enforcement purpose 

13 with respect to Iran. 

14 (3) WAIVER.—The President may waive for up 

15 to 1 year at a time any requirement under para16 graph (1) with respect to a natural person or a fi17 nancial institution after reporting in writing to the 

18 appropriate Members of Congress that the waiver is 

19 in the national interest of the United States, with a 

20 detailed explanation of the reasons therefor. 

21 (b) PERSONS DESCRIBED.—The natural persons de22 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

23 (1) The Supreme Leader of Iran. 

24 (2) The President of Iran. 

25 (3) Members of the Council of Guardians. 


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1 (4) Members of the Expediency Council. 

2 (5) The Minister of Intelligence and Security. 

3 (6) The Commander and the Deputy Com4 mander of the IRGC. 

5 (7) The Commander and the Deputy Com6 mander of the IRGC Ground Forces. 

7 (8) The Commander and the Deputy Com8 mander of the IRGC Aerospace Force. 

9 (9) The Commander and the Deputy Com10 mander of the IRGC Navy. 

11 (10) The Commander of the Basij-e12 Mostaz’afin. 

13 (11) The Commander of the Qods Force. 

14 (12) The Commander in Chief of the Police 

15 Force. 

16 (13) The head of the IRGC Joint Staff. 

17 (14) The Commander of the IRGC Intelligence. 

18 (15) The head of the IRGC Imam Hussein Uni19 versity. 

20 (16) The Supreme Leader’s Representative at 

21 the IRGC. 

22 (17) The Chief Executive Officer and the 

23 Chairman of the IRGC Cooperative Foundation. 

24 (18) The Commander of the Khatam-al-Anbia 

25 Construction Head Quarter. 


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1 (19) The Chief Executive Officer of the Basij 

2 Cooperative Foundation. 

3 (20) The head of the Political Bureau of the 

4 IRGC. 

5 (21) The senior leadership as determined by the 

6 President of the following groups: 

7 (A) Hizballah. 

8 (B) Hamas. 

9 (C) Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 

10 (D) Kata’ib Hizballah. 

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

12 (1) FORM.—The report required under sub13 section (a) and any waiver under subsection (a)(3) 

14 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may con15 tain a classified annex. 

16 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of 

17 the Treasury shall make the unclassified portion of 

18 such report public if the Secretary notifies the ap19 propriate Members of Congress that the publication 

20 is in the national interest of the United States and 

21 would substantially promote— 

22 (A) deterring or sanctioning official cor23 ruption in Iran; 


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1 (B) holding natural persons or financial in2 stitutions listed in the report accountable to the 

3 people of Iran; 

4 (C) combating money laundering or the fi5 nancing of terrorism; or 

6 (D) achieving any other strategic objective 

7 with respect to the Government of Iran. 

8 (3) FORMAT OF PUBLICLY AVAILABLE RE9 PORTS.—If the Secretary makes the unclassified 

10 portion of a report public pursuant to paragraph 

11 (2), the Secretary shall make it available to the pub12 lic on the website of the Department of the Treas13 ury— 

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

15 and 

16 (B) in precompressed, easily downloadable 

17 versions that are made available in all appro18 priate formats. 

19 SEC. 4. RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN FINANCIAL INSTITU20 TIONS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date that is 

22 90 days after submitting a report described under section 

23 3(a)(1), the Secretary of the Treasury shall undertake the 

24 following with respect to a financial institution that is de25 scribed under section 3(a)(1)(C) and listed in the report: 


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1 (1) If the financial institution is a United 

2 States financial institution, require the closure of 

3 any account described in section 3(a)(1)(C)(i), and 

4 prohibit the provision of significant financial serv5 ices, directly or indirectly, to a natural person cov6 ered by the report. 

7 (2) If the financial institution is a foreign fi8 nancial institution, actively seek the closure of any 

9 account described in section 3(a)(1)(C)(i), and the 

10 cessation of significant financial services to a natural 

11 person covered by the report, using any existing au12 thorities of the Secretary of the Treasury, as appro13 priate. 

14 (b) SUSPENSION.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

15 may suspend the application of subsection (a) with respect 

16 to a financial institution upon reporting to the appropriate 

17 Members of Congress that the suspension is in the na18 tional interest of the United States, with a detailed expla19 nation of the reasons therefor. 

20 SEC. 5. EXCEPTIONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY; IMPLEMEN21 TATION AUTHORITY. 

22 The following activities shall be exempt from require23 ments under sections 3 and 4: 

24 (1) Any activity subject to the reporting re25 quirements under title V of the National Security 


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1 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.), or to any au2 thorized intelligence activities of the United States. 

3 (2) The admission of an alien to the United 

4 States if such admission is necessary to comply with 

5 United States obligations under the Agreement be6 tween the United Nations and the United States of 

7 America regarding the Headquarters of the United 

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

9 entered into force November 21, 1947, or under the 

10 Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna 

11 April 24, 1963, and entered into force March 19, 

12 1967, or other applicable international obligations of 

13 the United States. 

14 (3) The conduct or facilitation of a transaction 

15 for the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medi16 cine, or medical devices to Iran or for the provision 

17 of humanitarian assistance to the people of Iran, in18 cluding engaging in a financial transaction relating 

19 to humanitarian assistance or for humanitarian pur20 poses or transporting goods or services that are nec21 essary to carry out operations relating to humani22 tarian assistance or humanitarian purposes. 

23 SEC. 6. SUNSET. 

24 The provisions of this Act shall have no force or effect 

25 on the earlier of— 


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1 (1) the date that is 5 years after the date of en2 actment of this Act; or 

3 (2) 30 days after the Secretary of the Treasury 

4 reports in writing to the appropriate Members of 

5 Congress that— 

6 (A) Iran is not a jurisdiction of primary 

7 money laundering concern; or 

8 (B) the Government of Iran is providing 

9 significant cooperation to the United States for 

10 the purpose of preventing acts of international 

11 terrorism, or for the promotion of any other 

12 strategic objective that is important to the na13 tional interest of the United States, as specified 

14 in the report by the Secretary. 

15 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

16 For purposes of this Act: 

17 (1) APPROPRIATE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.— 

18 The term ‘‘appropriate Members of Congress’’ 

19 means the Speaker and Minority Leader of the 

20 House of Representatives, the Majority Leader and 

21 Minority Leader of the Senate, the Chairman and 

22 Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial 

23 Services of the House of Representatives, and the 

24 Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee 


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1 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Sen2 ate. 

3 (2) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi4 nancial institution’’ means a United States financial 

5 institution or a foreign financial institution. 

6 (3) FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The 

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

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

9 of Federal Regulations. 

10 (4) FUNDS.—The term ‘‘funds’’ means— 

11 (A) cash; 

12 (B) equity; 

13 (C) any other asset whose value is derived 

14 from a contractual claim, including bank depos15 its, bonds, stocks, a security as defined in sec16 tion 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 

17 U.S.C. 77b(a)), or a security or an equity secu18 rity as defined in section 3(a) of the Securities 

19 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)); and 

20 (D) anything else that the Secretary deter21 mines appropriate. 

22 (5) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’ with 

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

24 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 


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

2 result. 

3 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

5 (7) UNITED STATES FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.— 

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

7 the meaning given the term ‘‘U.S. financial institu8 tion’’ under section 561.309 of title 31, Code of 

9 Federal Regulations. 

Æ 


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