HR 5826 RFS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Paydays for Hos-
tage-Takers Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long his-
tory of hostage-taking and wrongful detention of 
United States nationals, including its illegal deten-
tion of 52 American diplomats from 1979 to 1981. 
(2) The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and 
Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 
et seq.), named in honor of Robert Levinson, the 
longest-held hostage in United States history who is 
presumed to have been killed by the regime while in 
Iranian custody, authorizes sanctions with respect to 
foreign persons who are responsible for or complicit 
in hostage-taking or unlawful or wrongful detention 
of United States nationals abroad. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States to under-
take additional actions and impose strict penalties to deter 
the Government of Iran and other hostile governments and 
non-state actors from hostage-taking or wrongfully detain-
ing United States nationals. 
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SEC. 4. REPORT AND CERTIFICATION ON RESTRICTED IRA-
NIAN FUNDS RELEASED TO QATAR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 
thereafter for 6 years, the President shall submit to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate the 
following: 
(1) A report on the $6,000,000,000 in funds 
transferred from restricted Iranian accounts in the 
Republic of South Korea to restricted accounts in 
Qatar on or after August 9, 2023. 
(2) A certification as to whether credible evi-
dence or intelligence exists that any of the funds 
transferred have been used for any purpose other 
than humanitarian purposes. 
(3) A certification as to whether credible evi-
dence or intelligence exists that the funds trans-
ferred have enabled the Government of Iran to in-
crease spending on defense, intelligence, or malign 
foreign activities. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re-
quired by subsection (a)(1) shall include the following: 
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(1) An itemized list of all transactions involving 
the use of funds transferred, including the value of 
such transactions, the parties to such transactions, 
the financial institutions involved, the goods pur-
chased in each transaction, the destinations and end 
user of such goods, the date on which the United 
States was notified of such transaction, and the date 
the transaction occurred. 
(2) The quantity of funds described in sub-
section (a)(1) in restricted accounts in Qatar at the 
beginning and end of each reporting period. 
(3) A thorough description of the process the 
United States Government utilized during the re-
porting period to review transactions involving the 
use of funds transferred in order to verify that such 
transactions were humanitarian in nature. 
SEC. 5. REVIEW AND DETERMINATION AND REPORTS ON 
SANCTIONS UNDER THE ROBERT LEVINSON 
HOSTAGE RECOVERY AND HOSTAGE-TAKING 
ACCOUNTABILITY ACT. 
(a) REVIEW AND DETERMINATION.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
on an annual basis thereafter for 6 years, the President 
shall— 
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(1) review all cases of the hostage-taking of a 
United States national in Iran or at the direction of 
the Government of Iran and all cases of the unlawful 
or wrongful detention of a United States national in 
Iran or at the direction of the Government of Iran 
that have occurred during the preceding 10-year pe-
riod; and 
(2) make a determination as to whether any 
foreign person, based on credible evidence— 
(A) is responsible for or complicit in, or re-
sponsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise 
directing, the hostage-taking of the United 
States national or the unlawful or wrongful de-
tention of the United States national; or 
(B) knowingly provides financial, material, 
or technological support for, or goods or serv-
ices in support of, an activity described in sub-
paragraph (A). 
(b) REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and on an annual basis 
thereafter for 6 years, the President shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report that— 
(1) identifies all foreign persons with respect to 
which the President has made a determination under 
subsection (a)(2); and 
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(2) with respect to each such foreign person— 
(A) states whether sanctions have been im-
posed under section 306 of the Robert Levinson 
Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac-
countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741d) or will be 
imposed within 30 days of the date of the sub-
mission of the report; and 
(B) for whom sanctions have not been im-
posed or will not be imposed under section 306 
of such Act, provides a description of the spe-
cific authority under which otherwise applicable 
sanctions are being waived, have otherwise been 
determined not to apply, or are not being im-
posed and a complete justification of the deci-
sion to waive or otherwise not apply the sanc-
tions authorized by such sanctions programs 
and authorities. 
SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT TO LIMIT TRAVEL OF IRANIAN DIP-
LOMATS AT THE UNITED NATIONS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) United States visa restrictions on sanc-
tioned individuals often contain exceptions for activi-
ties in order to permit the United States to comply 
with the Agreement regarding the headquarters of 
the United Nations signed at Lake Success June 26, 
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