No U.S. Financing for Iran Act of 2022
Bill: H.R.7402 | Sponsor: Rep. Huizenga, Bill (R-MI)
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
No U.S. Financing for Iran Act of 2022
This bill prohibits certain actions related to exports, imports, and financing with respect to Iran.
Specifically, the bill prohibits the Department of the Treasury from authorizing U.S. financial institution transactions in connection with the importation from or exportation to Iran of goods, services, or technology. This prohibition does not apply to the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices benefitting the civilian population of Iran.
The bill requires Treasury to instruct U.S. representatives to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to (1) oppose IMF financial assistance, and the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR), to Iran; and (2) seek to ensure that IMF member countries prohibit the exchange of SDR held by Iran. (The SDR is an international reserve asset maintained by the IMF based on contributions from IMF member countries. SDRs may be exchanged between member countries and may also be exchanged for currencies.)
Further, the bill provides statutory authority for the prohibition on Export-Import Bank financing with respect to Iran.
The bill's provisions shall be in effect until the earlier of (1) 30 days after the President certifies to Congress that Iran has ceased providing support for acts of international terrorism and is not a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern, (2) 30 days after Treasury reports to Congress that termination of the provisions is necessary to comply with treaties ratified by the United States, or (3) 10 years after this bill's enactment.

To prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from authorizing certain 
  transactions by a United States financial institution in connection 
 with Iran, to prevent the International Monetary Fund from providing 
 financial assistance to Iran, to codify prohibitions on Export-Import 
   Bank financing for the Government of Iran, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``No U.S. Financing for Iran Act of 
2022''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) In an April 2016 forum at the Council on Foreign 
        Relations, then-Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew stated 
        that, under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 
        United States committed to lifting its nuclear sanctions, ``but 
        the U.S. financial system is not open to Iran, and that is not 
        something that is going to change''.
            (2) In September 2016, however, the Department of the 
        Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued 
        licenses authorizing United States financial institutions ``to 
        engage in all transactions necessary to provide financing or 
        other financial services'' in order to effectuate the sale of 
        aircraft to flagship state-owned carrier Iran Air. The 
        Department had sanctioned Iran Air in 2011 for its use of 
        commercial passenger aircraft to transport rockets, missiles, 
        and other military cargo on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary 
        Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed 
        Forces Logistics, both of which had been sanctioned under 
        Executive Order No. 13382 for weapons proliferation-related 
        activities. In October 2017, the IRGC went on to be designated 
        under Executive Order No. 13224 for its support of the IRGC-
        Qods Force, which has provided support to terrorist groups such 
        as Hizballah, Hamas, and the Taliban. Iran Air had also 
        delivered missile or rocket components to the Assad government 
        in Syria, which like Iran is classified as a state sponsor of 
        terrorism.
            (3) Iran remains classified by the Department of the 
        Treasury as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern. 
        In 2019, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) 
        issued a final rule ``to prohibit the opening or maintaining of 
        correspondent accounts in the United States for, or on behalf 
        of, Iranian financial institutions, and the use of foreign 
        financial institutions' correspondent accounts at covered U.S. 
        financial institutions to process transactions involving 
        Iranian financial institutions''. This measure, according to 
        FinCEN, was related to important United States policy goals, 
        ``namely to deny the Iranian regime resources to support 
        terrorism, develop nuclear weapons and/or the proliferation of 
        weapons of mass destruction, advance its ballistic missile 
        program, oppress the Iranian people, and fuel conflicts in 
        Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere''. At the time this 
        measure was imposed, FinCEN stated that it ``will further 
        protect the U.S. financial system from Iran by ensuring that 
        U.S. financial institutions are not exposed to Iran's ongoing 
        illicit finance activities, including its support for 
        international terrorism''.
            (4) In February 2020, the Financial Action Task Force 
        (FATF) determined that Iran had not completed its action plan 
        to address strategic deficiencies in countering money 
        laundering, terrorist financing, and weapons proliferation. The 
        FATF therefore returned Iran to its ``black list'' and renewed 
        its call for countries to apply countermeasures against Iran in 
        order to protect the international financial system.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON AUTHORIZATIONS FOR UNITED STATES FINANCIAL 
              INSTITUTIONS.

    The Secretary of the Treasury may not authorize a transaction by a 
U.S. financial institution (as defined under section 561.309 of title 
31, Code of Federal Regulations) in connection with the importation 
from or exportation to the Islamic Republic of Iran of any goods, 
services, or technology, other than the sale of agricultural 
commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices benefitting the 
civilian population of Iran.

SEC. 4. OPPOSITION TO INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ASSISTANCE.

    The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States 
Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund to--
            (1) oppose the provision of financial assistance by the 
        Fund to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the allocation to the 
        Government of Iran of Special Drawing Rights; and
            (2) seek to ensure that member countries of the Fund 
        prohibit the exchange of Special Drawing Rights held by the 
        Government of Iran.

SEC. 5. CODIFICATION OF EXPORT-IMPORT BANK PROHIBITION WITH RESPECT TO 
              IRAN.

    Section 2(b) of the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 (12 U.S.C. 
635(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(14) Prohibition on Financing for Iran.--The Bank may not 
guarantee, insure, or extend (or participate in an extension of) credit 
in connection with any transaction, with respect to which credit 
assistance from the Bank is first sought after the effective date of 
this paragraph, for which a lender or obligor is the Government of Iran 
or an entity owned or controlled by the Government of Iran.''.

SEC. 6. SUNSET.

    This Act and the amendment made by this Act are hereby repealed 
effective on the earliest of--
            (1) the date that is 30 days after the date the President 
        of the United States certifies to the Congress that the 
        Government of Iran--
                    (A) has ceased providing support for acts of 
                international terrorism; and
                    (B) is not a jurisdiction of primary money 
                laundering concern, as described under section 5318A of 
                title 31, United States Code;
            (2) the date that is 30 days after the date that the 
        Secretary of the Treasury reports to the Congress that 
        terminating the provisions of this Act is necessary to permit 
        the United States to comply with a treaty ratified by the 
        United States; or
            (3) 10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>