I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7321 
To impose sanctions with respect to Iranian financial institutions and the 
development and use of Iranian digital currency, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 17, 2018 
Mr. GALLAGHER (for himself, Ms. STEFANIK, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. LAMBORN, 
Mr. KING of New York, Mr. BACON, and Mr. BANKS of Indiana) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, the Ju-
diciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To impose sanctions with respect to Iranian financial institu-
tions and the development and use of Iranian digital 
currency, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—STRENGTHENING EXISTING SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT 
TO IRAN TO ACCOUNT FOR ALL SANCTIONABLE ACTIVITY, IN-
CLUDING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES 
Sec. 101. Findings. 
Sec. 102. Expansion of prohibitions on correspondent accounts or payable- 
through accounts for foreign financial institutions that facili-
tate transactions or provide financial services for certain Ira-
nian financial institutions. 
Sec. 103. Expansion of sanctions with respect to persons knowingly and directly 
providing specialized financial messaging services to, or ena-
bling or facilitating direct or indirect access to such messaging 
services for, the Central Bank of Iran, other designated Ira-
nian banks, or Iranian financial institutions removed from the 
list of specially designated persons pursuant to the implementa-
tion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
TITLE II—NEW SANCTIONS AUTHORITIES WITH RESPECT TO 
IRANIAN BANKS 
Sec. 201. Findings. 
Sec. 202. Issuance of final rule regarding application of special measures with 
respect to Iran in connection with designation as jurisdiction 
of primary money laundering concern. 
Sec. 203. Imposition of sanctions with respect to financial sector of Iran. 
Sec. 204. Authorization of imposition of terrorism-related sanctions with re-
spect to Iranian financial institutions. 
TITLE III—SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE DEVELOPMENT 
AND USE OF IRANIAN DIGITAL CURRENCY 
Sec. 301. Definitions. 
Sec. 302. Findings. 
Sec. 303. Prohibition on transactions related to, provision of financing for, and 
other dealings in Iranian digital currency. 
Sec. 304. Sanctions with respect to foreign persons that engage in significant 
transactions for the sale, supply, or transfer to Iran of signifi-
cant goods or services used in connection with the development 
of Iranian digital currency. 
Sec. 305. Sanctions with respect to foreign persons that conduct or facilitate 
significant transactions related to the purchase or sale of Ira-
nian digital currency or maintain significant amounts in Ira-
nian digital currency. 
Sec. 306. Report on progress of Government of Iran in creating a sovereign 
cryptocurrency. 
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TITLE I—STRENGTHENING EX-
ISTING SANCTIONS WITH RE-
SPECT TO IRAN TO ACCOUNT 
FOR ALL SANCTIONABLE AC-
TIVITY, 
INCLUDING 
HUMAN 
RIGHTS ABUSES 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) On November 5, 2018, the Secretary of the 
Treasury for the first time sanctioned Iranian banks 
for having materially assisted, sponsored, or pro-
vided financial, material, or technological support 
for, or goods or services to or in support of the 
human rights abuses of the Government of Iran, in-
cluding— 
(A) Ghavamin Bank, for providing services 
to the Law Enforcement Forces of Iran, which 
had been designated for complicity ‘‘in serious 
human rights abuses in Iran, including oper-
ating 
detention 
centers 
where 
detained 
protestors were deprived of basic needs such as 
medical care’’; and 
(B) Ayandeh Bank, for providing services 
to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, 
Iran’s state-media apparatus, which had been 
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designated for ‘‘restricting or denying the free 
flow of information to or from the Iranian peo-
ple . . . [and] was implicated in censoring mul-
tiple media outlets and airing forced confessions 
from political detainees’’. 
(2) Section 220 of the Iran Threat Reduction 
and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 
8726) authorizes the imposition of sanctions with re-
spect to persons who knowingly and directly provide 
specialized financial messaging services to, or know-
ingly enable or facilitate direct or indirect access to 
such messaging services for, the Central Bank of 
Iran or certain other sanctioned Iranian financial in-
stitutions. 
SEC. 
102. 
EXPANSION 
OF 
PROHIBITIONS 
ON 
COR-
RESPONDENT 
ACCOUNTS 
OR 
PAYABLE- 
THROUGH ACCOUNTS FOR FOREIGN FINAN-
CIAL 
INSTITUTIONS 
THAT 
FACILITATE 
TRANSACTIONS 
OR 
PROVIDE 
FINANCIAL 
SERVICES FOR CERTAIN IRANIAN FINANCIAL 
INSTITUTIONS. 
Section 104(c)(2)(E) of the Comprehensive Iran 
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 
(22 U.S.C. 8513(c)(2)(E)) is amended— 
(1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 
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(2) in clause (ii)(II), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(iii) an Iranian financial institution 
included on the list of specially designated 
nationals and blocked persons maintained 
by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of 
the Department of the Treasury.’’. 
SEC. 103. EXPANSION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 
PERSONS KNOWINGLY AND DIRECTLY PRO-
VIDING SPECIALIZED FINANCIAL MESSAGING 
SERVICES TO, OR ENABLING OR FACILI-
TATING DIRECT OR INDIRECT ACCESS TO 
SUCH MESSAGING SERVICES FOR, THE CEN-
TRAL BANK OF IRAN, OTHER DESIGNATED 
IRANIAN BANKS, OR IRANIAN FINANCIAL IN-
STITUTIONS REMOVED FROM THE LIST OF 
SPECIALLY DESIGNATED PERSONS PURSU-
ANT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 
JOINT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF ACTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 220 of the Iran Threat 
Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 
U.S.C. 8726) is amended— 
(1) in the section header, by striking ‘‘AU-
THORIZATION OF’’; 
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(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘or a financial institution described in sec-
tion 104(c)(2)(E)(ii) of the Comprehensive 
Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divest-
ment 
Act 
of 
2010 
(22 
U.S.C. 
8513(c)(2)(E)(ii))’’ and inserting ‘‘, a fi-
nancial institution described in clause (ii) 
or (iii) of section 104(c)(2)(E) of the Com-
prehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, 
and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 
8513(c)(2)(E)), or a financial institution 
that was removed from the list of specially 
designated nationals and blocked persons 
maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets 
Control of the Department of the Treasury 
pursuant to the implementation of the 
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’’; and 
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
‘‘that section’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara-
graph (A)’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or a fi-
nancial 
institution 
described 
in 
section 
104(c)(2)(E)(ii) of the Comprehensive Iran 
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Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act 
of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513(c)(2)(E)(ii))’’ and in-
serting ‘‘, a financial institution described in 
clause (ii) or (iii) of section 104(c)(2)(E) of the 
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, 
and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 
8513(c)(2)(E)), or a financial institution that 
was removed from the list of specially des-
ignated nationals and blocked persons main-
tained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control 
of the Department of the Treasury pursuant to 
the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive 
Plan of Action’’; 
(3) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in the subsection header, by striking 
‘‘AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘IMPOSITION’’; 
(B) in paragraph (1)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘the date that is 90 
days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of the 
enactment of the Blocking Iran Illicit Fi-
nance Act’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘or a financial institu-
tion described in paragraph (2)(E)(ii) of 
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section 104(c) of the Comprehensive Iran 
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment 
Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513(c))’’ and in-
serting ‘‘, a financial institution described 
in clause (ii) or (iii) of paragraph (2)(E) of 
section 104(c) of the Comprehensive Iran 
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment 
Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513(c)), or a fi-
nancial institution that was removed from 
the list of specially designated nationals 
and blocked persons maintained by the Of-
fice of Foreign Assets Control of the De-
partment of the Treasury pursuant to the 
implementation of the Joint Comprehen-
sive Plan of Action’’; and 
(iii) by striking ‘‘the President may’’ 
and inserting ‘‘the President shall’’; and 
(C) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-
graph 
(A), 
by 
striking 
‘‘section 
104(c)(2)(E)(ii) of the Comprehensive Iran 
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment 
Act 
of 
2010 
(22 
U.S.C. 
8513(c)(2)(E)(ii))’’ and inserting ‘‘that 
paragraph’’; and 
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(ii) in subparagraph (A)(ii)(I), by 
striking ‘‘section 104(c)(2)(E)(ii) of the 
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Account-
ability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 
U.S.C. 8513(c)(2)(E)(ii))’’ and inserting 
‘‘paragraph (1)’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) JOINT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF ACTION DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘Joint Comprehensive 
Plan of Action’ means the Joint Comprehensive Plan of 
Action agreed to at Vienna on July 14, 2015, by Iran and 
by France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the People’s 
Republic of China, the United Kingdom, and the United 
States, and all implementing materials and agreements re-
lated to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
for the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 
Act of 2012 is amended by striking the item relating to 
section 220 and inserting the following: 
‘‘Sec. 220. Reports on, and imposition of sanctions with respect to, the provi-
sion of specialized financial messaging services to the Central 
Bank of Iran and other sanctioned Iranian financial institu-
tions.’’. 
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