118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 589 

AN ACT 

To impose sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran and 

the President of Iran and their respective offices for 

human rights abuses and support for terrorism. 

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 ‘‘Mahsa Amini Human 

3 rights and Security Accountability Act’’ or the ‘‘MAHSA 

4 Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS ON IRAN’S SUPREME 

6 LEADER’S OFFICE, ITS APPOINTEES, AND ANY 

7 AFFILIATED PERSONS. 

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

9 (1) The Supreme Leader is an institution of the 

10 Islamic Republic of Iran. 

11 (2) The Supreme Leader holds ultimate author12 ity over Iran’s judiciary and security apparatus, in13 cluding the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, 

14 law enforcement forces under the Interior Ministry, 

15 the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and 

16 the Basij, a nationwide volunteer paramilitary group 

17 subordinate to the IRGC, all of which have engaged 

18 in human rights abuses in Iran. Additionally the 

19 IRGC, a United States designated Foreign Terrorist 

20 Organization, which reports to the Supreme Leader, 

21 continues to perpetrate terrorism around the globe, 

22 including attempts to kill and kidnap American citi23 zens on United States soil. 

24 (3) The Supreme Leader appoints the head of 

25 Iran’s judiciary. International observers continue to 

26 criticize the lack of independence of Iran’s judicial 
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1 system and maintained that trials disregarded inter2 national standards of fairness. 

3 (4) The revolutionary courts, created by Iran’s 

4 former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, within 

5 Iran’s judiciary, are chiefly responsible for hearing 

6 cases of political offenses, operate in parallel to 

7 Iran’s criminal justice system and routinely hold 

8 grossly unfair trials without due process, handing 

9 down predetermined verdicts and rubberstamping 

10 executions for political purpose. 

11 (5) The Iranian security and law enforcement 

12 forces engage in serious human rights abuse at the 

13 behest of the Supreme Leader. 

14 (6) Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, sits at the 

15 helm of the most sanctioned cabinet in Iranian his16 tory which includes internationally sanctioned rights 

17 violators. Raisi has supported the recent crackdown 

18 on protestors and is a rights violator himself, having 

19 served on a ‘‘death commission’’ in 1988 that led to 

20 the execution of several thousand political prisoners 

21 in Iran. He most recently served as the head of 

22 Iran’s judiciary, a position appointed by Iran’s cur23 rent Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and may likely 

24 be a potential candidate to replace Khamenei as 

25 Iran’s next Supreme Leader. 
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1 (7) On September 16, 2022, a 22-year-old 

2 woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the detention of the 

3 Morality Police after being beaten and detained for 

4 allegedly transgressing discriminatory dress codes 

5 for women. This tragic incident triggered wide6 spread, pro-women’s rights, pro-democracy protests 

7 across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, calling for the end 

8 to Iran’s theocratic regime. 

9 (8) In the course of the protests, the Iranian 

10 security forces’ violent crackdown includes mass ar11 rests, well documented beating of protestors, throt12 tling of the internet and telecommunications serv13 ices, and shooting protestors with live ammunition. 

14 Iranian security forces have reportedly killed hun15 dreds of protestors and other civilians, including 

16 women and children, and wounded many more. 

17 (9) Iran’s Supreme Leader is the leader of the 

18 ‘‘Axis of Resistance’’, which is a network of 

19 Tehran’s terror proxy and partner militias materially 

20 supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 

21 that targets the United States as well as its allies 

22 and partners. 

23 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con24 gress that— 
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1 (1) the United States shall stand with and sup2 port the people of Iran in their demand for funda3 mental human rights; 

4 (2) the United States shall continue to hold the 

5 Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly the Supreme 

6 Leader and President, accountable for abuses of 

7 human rights, corruption, and export of terrorism; 

8 and 

9 (3) Iran must immediately end its gross viola10 tions of internationally recognized human rights. 

11 (c) IN GENERAL.— 

12 (1) DETERMINATION AND REPORT RE13 QUIRED.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 

14 the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

15 the President shall— 

16 (A) determine whether each foreign person 

17 described in subsection (d) meets the criteria 

18 for imposition of sanctions under one or more 

19 of the sanctions programs and authorities listed 

20 in paragraph (2); 

21 (B) impose applicable sanctions against 

22 any foreign person determined to meet the cri23 teria for imposition of sanctions pursuant to 

24 subparagraph (A) under the sanctions programs 

25 and authorities listed in subparagraph (A) or 
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1 (F) of subsection (c)(2) and pursue applicable 

2 sanctions against any foreign person deter3 mined to meet the criteria for imposition of 

4 sanctions pursuant to subparagraph (A) under 

5 the sanctions programs and authorities listed in 

6 subparagraph (B), (C), (D), or (E) of sub7 section (c)(2); and 

8 (C) submit to the appropriate congres9 sional committees a report in unclassified form, 

10 with a classified annex provided separately if 

11 needed, containing— 

12 (i) a list of all foreign persons de13 scribed in subsection (d) that meet the cri14 teria for imposition of sanctions under one 

15 or more of the sanctions programs and au16 thorities listed in paragraph (2); and 

17 (ii) for each foreign person identified 

18 pursuant to clause (i)— 

19 (I) a list of each sanctions pro20 gram or authority listed in paragraph 

21 (2) for which the person meets the 

22 criteria for imposition of sanctions; 

23 (II) a statement which, if any, of 

24 the sanctions authorized by any of the 

25 sanctions programs and authorities 
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1 identified pursuant to subclause (I) 

2 have been imposed or will be imposed 

3 within 30 days of the submission of 

4 the report; and 

5 (III) with respect to which any of 

6 the sanctions authorized by any of the 

7 sanctions programs and authorities 

8 identified pursuant to subclause (I) 

9 have not been imposed and will not be 

10 imposed within 30 days of the submis11 sion of the report, the specific author12 ity under which otherwise applicable 

13 sanctions are being waived, have oth14 erwise been determined not to apply, 

15 or are not being imposed and a com16 plete justification of the decision to 

17 waive or otherwise not apply the sanc18 tions authorized by such sanctions 

19 programs and authorities. 

20 (2) SANCTIONS LISTED.—The sanctions listed 

21 in this paragraph are the following: 

22 (A) Sanctions described in section 105(c) 

23 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Account24 ability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 

25 8514(c)). 
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1 (B) Sanctions applicable with respect to a 

2 person pursuant to Executive Order 13553 (50 

3 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property 

4 of certain persons with respect to serious 

5 human rights abuses by the Government of 

6 Iran). 

7 (C) Sanctions applicable with respect to a 

8 person pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (50 

9 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking property 

10 and prohibiting transactions with persons who 

11 commit, threaten to commit, or support ter12 rorism). 

13 (D) Sanctions applicable with respect to a 

14 person pursuant to Executive Order 13818 (re15 lating to blocking the property of persons in16 volved in serious human rights abuse or corrup17 tion). 

18 (E) Sanctions applicable with respect to a 

19 person pursuant to Executive Order 13876 (re20 lating to imposing sanctions with respect to 

21 Iran). 

22 (F) Penalties and visa bans applicable with 

23 respect to a person pursuant to section 7031(c) 

24 of the Department of State, Foreign Oper-
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1 ations, and Related Programs Appropriations 

2 Act, 2021. 

3 (3) FORM OF DETERMINATION.—The deter4 mination required by paragraph (1) shall be pro5 vided in an unclassified form but may contain a clas6 sified annex provided separately containing addi7 tional contextual information pertaining to justifica8 tion for the issuance of any waiver issued, as de9 scribed in paragraph (1)(C)(ii). The unclassified por10 tion of such determination shall be made available 

11 on a publicly available internet website of the Fed12 eral Government. 

13 (d) FOREIGN PERSONS DESCRIBED.—The foreign 

14 persons described in this subsection are the following: 

15 (1) The Supreme Leader of Iran and any offi16 cial in the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran. 

17 (2) The President of Iran and any official in 

18 the Office of the President of Iran or the President’s 

19 cabinet, including cabinet ministers and executive 

20 vice presidents. 

21 (3) Any entity, including foundations and eco22 nomic conglomerates, overseen by the Office of the 

23 Supreme Leader of Iran which is complicit in financ24 ing or resourcing of human rights abuses or support 

25 for terrorism. 
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1 (4) Any official of any entity owned or con2 trolled by the Supreme Leader of Iran or the Office 

3 of the Supreme Leader of Iran. 

4 (5) Any person determined by the President— 

5 (A) to be a person appointed by the Su6 preme Leader of Iran, the Office of the Su7 preme Leader of Iran, the President of Iran, or 

8 the Office of the President of Iran to a position 

9 as a state official of Iran, or as the head of any 

10 entity located in Iran or any entity located out11 side of Iran that is owned or controlled by one 

12 or more entities in Iran; 

13 (B) to have materially assisted, sponsored, 

14 or provided financial, material, or technological 

15 support for, or goods or services to or in sup16 port of any person whose property and interests 

17 in property are blocked pursuant to any sanc18 tions program or authority listed in subsection 

19 (c)(2); 

20 (C) to be owned or controlled by, or to 

21 have acted or purported to act for or on behalf 

22 of, directly or indirectly any person whose prop23 erty and interests in property are blocked pur24 suant to any sanctions program or authority 

25 listed in subsection (c)(2); or 
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1 (D) to be a member of the board of direc2 tors or a senior executive officer of any person 

3 whose property and interests in property are 

4 blocked pursuant to any sanctions program or 

5 authority listed in subsection (c)(2). 

6 (e) CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

8 receiving a request from the chairman and ranking 

9 member of one of the appropriate congressional com10 mittees with respect to whether a foreign person 

11 meets the criteria of a person described in sub12 section (d)(5), the President shall— 

13 (A) determine if the person meets such cri14 teria; and 

15 (B) submit an unclassified report, with a 

16 classified annex provided separately if needed, 

17 to such chairman and ranking member with re18 spect to such determination that includes a 

19 statement of whether or not the President im20 posed or intends to impose sanctions with re21 spect to the person pursuant to any sanctions 

22 program or authority listed in subsection (c)(2). 

23 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT24 TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap25 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 
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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

2 the House of Representatives; and 

3 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

4 the Senate. 

5 SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY. 

6 If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 

7 provision to any person or circumstance, is found to be 

8 unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, or the applica9 tion of that provision to other persons or circumstances, 

10 shall not be affected. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 12, 

2023. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 589 

AN ACT 

To impose sanctions on the Supreme Leader of 

for terrorism. tive offices for human rights abuses and support Iran and the President of Iran and their respec-