I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3118 
To prevent further access of Iran and Hizballah into the Western Hemisphere, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 29, 2017 
Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. MCCAUL, 
Mr. DONOVAN, Mr. DESANTIS, Mrs. TORRES, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. SCHNEI-
DER, Mr. YOHO, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, and Mr. TED LIEU of Cali-
fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Serv-
ices, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prevent further access of Iran and Hizballah into the 
Western Hemisphere, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iran and Hizballah 
Western Hemisphere Prevention Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) On June 26, 2017, Ali Issa Chamas, a dual 
Paraguayan-Lebanese national reportedly with ties 
to Hizballah, was indicted by a Miami Federal grand 
jury for drug trafficking after being arrested in the 
Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil 
for allegedly trying to smuggle cocaine to the United 
States. 
(2) On June 8, 2017, the Department of Jus-
tice announced the arrest of Ali Kourani and Samer 
El Debek for attempting to provide support to 
Hizballah, including in Panama, which involved lo-
cating the United States and Israeli Embassies and 
casing security procedures at the Panama Canal. 
(3) In April 2017, Commander, United States 
Southern Command, Admiral Kurt Tidd testified to 
Congress that ‘‘as a continuing state sponsor of ter-
rorism, Iranian involvement in the Western Hemi-
sphere is always a matter of concern [and] with the 
easing of economic sanctions, Iran may be seeking to 
rebuild its relationships in the region’’. 
(4) In February 2017, the United States im-
posed sanctions on Venezuelan Vice President 
Tareck El Aissami, designating him as a drug king-
pin for facilitating narcotics to the United States. A 
subsequent CNN investigation linked El Aissami to 
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‘‘173 Venezuelan passports and IDs that were issued 
to individuals from the Middle East, including peo-
ple connected to the terrorist group Hezbollah’’. 
(5) In September 2016, Iranian President Has-
san Rouhani conducted his first visit to Latin Amer-
ica, visiting Venezuela and Cuba. In the same 
month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also vis-
ited Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nica-
ragua, and Venezuela. 
(6) In February 2016, a Federal prosecutor in 
Argentina alleged that Special Prosecutor Alberto 
Nisman’s death in January 2015 was a homicide. 
Nisman had previously published two reports docu-
menting Iranian activities in several countries in the 
region and filed a judicial complaint against former 
Argentine President Cristina Ferna´ndez de Kirchner 
for minimizing Iranian involvement in the 1994 ter-
rorist attack against the Argentine-Israeli Mutual 
Association (AMIA) that killed 85 people. 
(7) In February 2016, the U.S. Drug Enforce-
ment Administration (DEA) announced the disrup-
tion of a Hizballah network as part of DEA’s 
‘‘Project Cassandra’’, which affirmed that members 
of Hizballah’s External Security Organization Busi-
ness Affairs Component (BAC) had established busi-
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ness relationships with South American drug cartels, 
such as La Oficina de Envigado. 
(8) According to the Department of State’s 
2015 Country Report on Terrorism, Hezbollah 
maintains a presence in the Western Hemisphere 
‘‘with members, facilitators, and supporters engag-
ing in activity in support of the organization’’, which 
includes ‘‘efforts to build Hezbollah’s infrastructure 
in South America and fundraising, both through licit 
and illicit means’’. 
(9) In 2015, former Commander, United States 
Southern Command, General Kelly testified to Con-
gress that ‘‘our limited intelligence capabilities make 
it difficult to fully assess the amount of terrorist fi-
nancing generated in Latin America, or understand 
the scope of possible criminal-terrorist collabora-
tion’’. 
(10) In November 2014, Brazilian media pub-
lished police reports that revealed that Hizballah 
helped a Brazilian prison gang, the First Capital 
Command (PCC), obtain weapons in exchange for 
the protection of prisoners of Lebanese origin tied to 
Hizballah. Those same reports also found that Leba-
nese traffickers tied to Hizballah helped sell C4 ex-
plosives that the PCC allegedly stole in Paraguay. 
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(11) In November 2014, Peruvian counterter-
rorism police arrested Mohammed Amadar, a Leba-
nese citizen, who was reportedly a Hizballah opera-
tive, after finding traces of explosive materials and 
detonators at his home. His targets reportedly in-
cluded places associated with Israelis and Jews in 
Peru, the Israeli embassy in Lima, and Jewish com-
munity institutions. 
(12) Hizballah is classified by the Department 
of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, but 
multiple reports have found that Hizballah has sig-
nificant and expanding ties to transnational orga-
nized crime, drug trafficking, and money-laundering 
activities in the Western Hemisphere, including part-
nerships with Mexico’s Los Zetas, Colombia’s Revo-
lutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and 
Brazil’s Primeriro Comando de la Capital. 
(13) As of June 2017, the United States has 
sanctioned 11 individuals and four companies in the 
Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil 
for their involvement with Hizballah’s terror finance 
networks. However, multiple reports show that de-
spite United States measures, some of these individ-
uals who are Specially Designated Global Terrorists 
(SDGTs) under Executive Order 13224 of Sep-
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tember 2001 continue to have access to the global fi-
nancial system. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
Congress declares that it is the policy of the United 
States to continue the policy outlined in the Hizballah 
International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 (Public 
Law 114–102) and the government-wide strategy outlined 
in Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 
2012 (Public Law 112–220) to prevent further penetra-
tion of Iran and Hizballah into the Western Hemisphere 
and prioritize United States diplomatic efforts to engage 
countries in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt and de-
grade Hizballah’s illicit networks operating in the region. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) WESTERN HEMISPHERE.—The term ‘‘West-
ern Hemisphere’’ has the meaning given such term 
in section 4(1) of the Countering Iran in the West-
ern Hemisphere Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–220; 
22 U.S.C. 8701 note). 
(2) 
RELEVANT
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit-
tees’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
4(2) of the Countering Iran in the Western Hemi-
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sphere Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–220; 22 U.S.C. 
8701 note). 
(3) HIZBALLAH.—The term ‘‘Hizballah’’ has 
the meaning given such term in section 102(f) of the 
Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 
2015 (Public Law 114–102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note). 
(4) HOSTILE
ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘hostile 
activities’’ means any activities that promote anti- 
American or undemocratic views that threaten 
United States national security through government- 
to-government, private sector, nongovernmental or-
ganizations, or public diplomacy engagement. 
SEC. 5. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT HOSTILE 
ACTIVITIES BY IRAN AND DISRUPT AND DE-
GRADE HIZBALLAH’S ILLICIT NETWORKS IN 
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
shall submit to the relevant congressional committees a 
strategy to prevent hostile activities by Iran and disrupt 
and degrade Hizballah’s illicit networks in the Western 
Hemisphere that— 
(1) identifies Department of State priorities, in 
coordination with other executive branch agencies, 
for defining United States policy to protect United 
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States interests from Iranian and Hizballah threats 
in the Western Hemisphere; 
(2) involves a whole-of-government approach led 
by the Secretary of State, in coordination with other 
executive branch agencies, to ensure that informa-
tion-sharing, interdictions, arrests, investigations, in-
dictments, sanctions, and designations related to 
Hizballah individuals or networks in the Western 
Hemisphere are integrated, coordinated, and publicly 
communicated by the United States in a manner 
that supports United States interests; 
(3) outlines a counter-network disruption cam-
paign that includes the input of other executive 
branch agencies and that uses all appropriate United 
States national tools; 
(4) describes Iranian and Hizballah activities in 
the Western Hemisphere, their relationships with 
transnational criminal organizations in the region, 
their use of the region’s commodities trade to engage 
in illicit activities, and their use of Latin American 
and Caribbean visas, including through Citizenship 
by Investment Programs to seek admittance into the 
United States, as well as a plan to address any secu-
rity vulnerabilities to the United States; 
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(5) includes a review of all relevant United 
States sanctions that relate to Hizballah’s activities 
in Latin America and the Caribbean and an assess-
ment of their use, effectiveness, and any capability 
gaps; 
(6) includes a review of the use of the Depart-
ment of State’s rewards program under section 36 
of the State Department Basic Authorities Act (22 
U.S.C. 2708) to obtain information related to Latin 
America-based Hizballah operatives and illicit net-
works and an assessment of the effectiveness of this 
program for targeting Hizballah in the Western 
Hemisphere; 
(7) includes a review of all relevant United 
States sanctions on financial institutions in Latin 
America and the Caribbean that engage in activities 
outlined by section 102 of Hizballah International 
Financing Prevention Act of 2015 (Public Law 114– 
102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) and an assessment of the 
use of the authorities outlined, their effectiveness, 
and recommendations for improvement; 
(8) describes Hizballah criminal support net-
works, including country facilitation, in the Western 
Hemisphere and outlines a United States approach 
to partners in the region to address those illicit net-
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works and build country capacity to combat the 
transnational criminal activities of Hizballah; and 
(9) includes a review of the actions of govern-
ments in the Western Hemisphere to identify, inves-
tigate, and prosecute Latin America-based Hizballah 
operatives, and enforce sanctions either personally or 
to their business interests of Latin America-based 
Hizballah operatives as well as recommendations for 
United States action towards governments who 
refuse to impose sanctions or who willingly facilitate 
Latin America-based Hizballah illicit activities. 
(b) FORM.—The strategy required by subsection (b) 
shall be submitted in unclassified form to the greatest ex-
tent possible but may include a classified annex. 
SEC. 6. UNITED STATES BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL 
ENGAGEMENT ON HIZBALLAH IN THE WEST-
ERN HEMISPHERE. 
(a) BILATERAL ENGAGEMENT.—Not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi-
dent shall instruct the Secretary of State to prioritize 
United States diplomatic engagement with countries in the 
Western Hemisphere to increase cooperation and build 
governments’ capacity to prevent hostile activities by Iran 
and disrupt and degrade Hizballah’s illicit networks oper-
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