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.
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:
(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—
(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
(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,
1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 
between the United Nations and the United States. 
(2) Section 6 of Public Law 80–357 (commonly 
known as the ‘‘United Nations Headquarters Agree-
ment Act’’) provides ‘‘Nothing in the agreement 
shall be construed as in any way diminishing, 
abridging, or weakening the right of the United 
States to safeguard its own security.’’. 
(3) Congress has directed the President to use 
the President’s authority, including the authorities 
contained in section 6 of Public Law 80–357, to 
deny any individual’s admission to the United States 
as a representative to the United Nations if the 
President determines that such individual has been 
found to have been engaged in espionage activities 
or a terrorist activity directed against the United 
States or its allies and may pose a threat to United 
States national security interests. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that Iran’s longstanding hostage-taking and wrong-
ful detention of United States nationals, assassination 
plots against United States nationals outside and within 
the United States, and intelligence activities are a security 
or terrorist threat to the United States and United States 
interests and shall be a primary consideration in limiting
travel of Iranian diplomats seeking admission to the 
United States for United Nations activities and their fam-
ily members. 
(c) DENIAL OF VISAS.—Section 407(a)(1) of the For-
eign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 
1991 (8 U.S.C. 1102 note) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1)(A)’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end and inserting 
‘‘or’’; and 
(3) by adding further at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) has been sanctioned pursuant to Ex-
ecutive Order 13224 (66 Fed. Reg. 49079; re-
lating to blocking property and prohibiting 
transactions with persons who commit, threaten 
to commit, or support terrorism) or Executive 
Order 13382 (70 Fed. Reg. 38567; relating to 
blocking property of weapons of mass destruc-
tion proliferators and their supporters) as of 
the date of the enactment of the No Paydays 
for Hostage-Takers Act; and’’. 
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 
3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con-
gressional committees a report on whether the President 
has taken action to restrict the travel of Iranian diplomats
seeking admission to the United States for United Nations 
activities and their family members and identifying each 
such instance in which visas were denied or travel was re-
stricted. 
SEC. 7. REPORT ON BLOCKED IRANIAN ASSETS. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 years, the 
President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report that includes the following: 
(1) An itemized list of any identifiable assets 
with a valuation of more than $100,000 belonging to 
Iranian individuals and entities that are or have 
been blocked or otherwise frozen pursuant to any 
sanctions program under any jurisdiction globally, in 
the prior 2 years. 
(2) Any changes to the status of such assets, 
including unblocking, unfreezing, or transferring 
such assets, in the prior 2 years. 
(3) With respect to any changes identified in 
paragraph (2), whether the United States Govern-
ment took any action, including waiving of sanc-
tions, that related to such unblocking or unfreezing, 
and a justification for any such United States ac-
tions.
SEC. 8. REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO FREEZE 
AND SEIZE IRANIAN ASSETS. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the 
Treasury, and the Attorney General should, to the extent 
practicable— 
(1) carry out a coordinated international effort 
to find, restrain, freeze, and where appropriate and 
legally authorized, seize, confiscate or forfeit the as-
sets of those individuals and entities that have been 
sanctioned in connection with Iran’s malign activi-
ties, including hostage-taking, wrongful detention, 
and human rights violations; and 
(2) work with foreign governments— 
(A) to share intelligence of financial inves-
tigations, as appropriate; 
(B) to oversee the assets identified pursu-
ant to paragraph (1); and 
(C) to provide technical assistance to help 
governments establish the necessary legal 
framework to carry out asset forfeitures. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 
3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate con-
gressional committees a report on actions described in 
subsection (a).
SEC. 9. DETERMINATION AND REPORT ON INVALIDATING 
UNITED STATES PASSPORTS FOR TRAVEL TO 
IRAN. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Secretary of State maintains authority 
to restrict the use of United States passports for 
travel to or use in a country or area which the Sec-
retary has determined is a country or area in which 
there is imminent danger to the public health or 
physical safety of United States travelers, in accord-
ance with section 51.63 of title 22, Code of Federal 
Regulations. 
(2) In 2017, the Secretary of State declared 
United States passports invalid for travel to, in, or 
through North Korea, unless specially validated for 
such travel, after United States citizen Otto 
Warmbier suffered grievous injuries in North Ko-
rean custody, which led to his death. 
(3) The ban on use of United States passports 
for travel to North Korea was renewed in 2023. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Secretary of State should declare United 
States passports invalid for travel to, in, or through Iran 
due to the imminent danger to the public health and phys-
ical safety of United States travelers stemming from the
threat of wrongful detention or being taken hostage by the 
Iranian regime. 
(c) DETERMINATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act and annu-
ally thereafter for 3 years, the Secretary of State shall 
determine and report to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate— 
(1) whether the travel of United States persons 
to Iran presents an imminent danger to the public 
health or physical safety of United States travelers; 
and 
(2) whether the Secretary is exercising his au-
thority to declare United States passports invalid for 
travel to, in, or through Iran. 
SEC. 10. STRATEGY TO DETER HOSTAGE-TAKING. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the President shall develop and submit 
to Congress a strategy to deter and prevent wrongful de-
tention and hostage-taking by United States adversaries, 
including identifying penalties for wrongful detention and 
hostage-taking, identifying clear United States Govern-
ment policies barring the payment of ransom or trans-
actions that could be viewed as ransom by the United