II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3421 

To clarify that section 107 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through 

Sanctions Act applies sanctions with respect to unmanned combat aerial 

vehicles following a 2019 change by the United Nations providing additional clarity to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. RISCH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To clarify that section 107 of the Countering America’s 

Adversaries Through Sanctions Act applies sanctions 

with respect to unmanned combat aerial vehicles following a 2019 change by the United Nations providing 

additional clarity to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. 

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 ‘‘Stop Iranian Drones 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


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•S 3421 IS

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) A United Nations General Assembly report 

4 entitled, ‘‘Continuing operation of the United Na5 tions Register of Conventional Arms and its further 

6 development’’ (document A/68/140) and dated July 

7 15, 2013, states, in paragraph 45, the following: 

8 ‘‘The Group noted the discussion of the 2006 Group 

9 that category IV already covered armed unmanned 

10 aerial vehicles and of the 2009 Group on a proposal 

11 to include a new category for such vehicles. The 

12 Group reviewed proposals for providing greater clar13 ity to category IV. . . .’’. 

14 (2) Section 107 of the Countering America’s 

15 Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 

16 9406) requires that the President impose sanctions 

17 on any person that the President determines ‘‘know18 ingly engages in any activity that materially contrib19 utes to the supply, sale, or transfer directly or indi20 rectly to or from Iran, or for the use in or benefit 

21 of Iran, of any battle tanks, armored combat vehi22 cles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, 

23 attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile sys24 tems, as defined for the purpose of the United Na25 tions Register of Conventional Arms, or related ma26 teriel, including spare parts’’. 


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1 (3) In 2019, the United Nations formally 

2 changed the title of category IV of the United Na3 tions Register of Conventional Arms to ‘‘Combat air4 craft and unmanned combat aerial vehicles 

5 (UCAV)’’. 

6 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

7 It is the policy of the United States to prevent Iran 

8 and terrorist and militia groups aligned with Iran from 

9 acquiring unmanned aerial vehicles, including commer10 cially available component parts that can be used in at11 tacks against United States persons and allies and part12 ners of the United States. 

13 SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO COUNTERING AMERICA’S ADVER14 SARIES THROUGH SANCTIONS ACT RELATING 

15 TO SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO IRAN. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 107 of the Countering 

17 America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 

18 9406) is amended— 

19 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘EN20 FORCEMENT OF ARMS EMBARGOS’’ and insert21 ing ‘‘SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO MAJOR

22 CONVENTIONAL ARMS’’; and 

23 (2) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘or un24 manned combat aerial vehicles’’ after ‘‘combat air25 craft’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 for the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanc3 tions Act is amended by striking the item relating to sec4 tion 107 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 107. Sanctions with respect to major conventional arms.’’. 

5 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—The amend6 ments made by this section shall— 

7 (1) take effect on the date of the enactment of 

8 this Act; and 

9 (2) apply with respect to any person that know10 ingly engages, before, on, or after such date of en11 actment, in any activity that materially contributes 

12 to the supply, sale, or transfer of an unmanned com13 bat aerial vehicle (as defined by the United Nations 

14 Register of Conventional Arms)— 

15 (A) directly or indirectly to or from Iran; 

16 or 

17 (B) for the use in or benefit of Iran. 

Æ 


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