Revoke Iranian Funding Act of 2023

Bill: 118-s-3049
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC]
Introduced: 2023-10-17
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Foreign and international banking

Iran

Licensing and registrations

Middle East

Qatar

Sanctions
Latest action: action_date: 2024-04-09
text: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3049 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 17, 2023 Mr. Scott of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Crapo , Mr. Barrasso , Mr. Cramer , Mr. Hoeven , Mr. Vance , Ms. Lummis , Mr. Ricketts , Mrs. Fischer , Mr. Hagerty , Mr. Scott of Florida , Mrs. Britt , Mr. Tillis , Mr. Rubio , Mrs. Capito , Mr. Cotton , Mr. Cornyn , Mrs. Blackburn , Mr. Daines , Mr. Graham , Mr. Braun , Mr. Cassidy , Ms. Sinema , Mr. Rounds , Mr. Lankford , Ms. Collins , and Mr. Manchin ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To freeze $6,000,000,000 of Iranian funds held in Qatar, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Revoke Iranian Funding Act of 2023 . 2. Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) Iran, as documented by the report of the Department of State entitled, Country Reports on Terrorism 2021 , is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world; (2) Hamas has repeatedly carried out acts of terror against Israel, citizens of the United States, and innocent civilians, including the October 2023 assault against Israel that resulted in the brutal murder of innocent men, women, and children; (3) given the fungible nature of money, funds released to Iran for so-called humanitarian purposes cannot be reliably prevented from funding future terrorist attacks, especially when the Government of Iran has explicitly acknowledged their willingness to use any and all monetary gains to support the ideology of their regime; and (4) in the face of this reality, the United States Government should consider every available tool to immediately restrict access by Iran to any and all funds that are used to finance international terrorism. 3. Rescission of license authority with respect to Iranian accounts in Qatar Effective on the date of the enactment of this Act— (1) the Secretary of the Treasury shall rescind any general license, specific license, action letter, comfort letter, statement of licensing policy, answers to frequently asked questions, or other exemption from the imposition of sanctions under a covered provision of law purportedly for humanitarian purposes, such as the $6,000,000,000 transferred from South Korea in September 2023, with respect to accounts held by the Government of Iran or a covered person in Qatar issued before such date of enactment; and (2) any authority provided to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue, purportedly for humanitarian purposes, a general license, specific license, action letter, comfort letter, statement of licensing policy, answers to frequently asked questions, or other exemption from the imposition of sanctions under a covered provision of law with respect to accounts held by the Government or Iran or a covered person in Qatar is rescinded for the one-year period following the date of the enactment of this Act. 4. Rescission of waiver determination issued on September 8, 2023 Effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, the waiver determination issued by the Secretary of State on September 8, 2023, under covered waiver authority and submitted to Congress on September 11, 2023, is rescinded. 5. Report and briefing on Iranian assets and licenses (a) In general Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report and provide to the appropriate congressional committees a briefing— (1) identifying— (A) all assets of the Government of Iran or covered persons valued at more than $5,000,000 and blocked by the United States pursuant to any provision of law; and (B) for each such asset— (i) the country in which the asset is held; (ii) the financial institution in which the asset is held; and (iii) the approximate value of the asset; and (2) setting forth a list of all general licenses, specific licenses, action letters, comfort letters, statements of licensing policy, answers to frequently asked questions, or other exemptions issued by the Secretary with respect to sanctions relating to Iran that are in effect as of the date of the report. (b) Form (1) Assets The report and briefing required by subsection (a)(1) shall be submitted or provided, as the case may be, in unclassified form. (2) Exemptions The report and briefing required by subsection (a)(2) shall be submitted or provided, as the case may be, in classified form. 6. Definitions In this Act: (1) Appropriate congressional committees The term appropriate congressional committees means— (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives. (2) Covered person The term covered person means— (A) an individual who is a citizen or national of Iran and is acting on behalf of the Government of Iran; (B) an entity organized under the laws of Iran or otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the Government of Iran; and (C) an individual or entity that provides material, tactical, operational, developmental, or financial support to— (i) the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; (ii) any agency or instrumentality of the Armed Forces of Iran; (iii) any agency or instrumentality related to the nuclear program of Iran; or (iv) any organization designated as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1189 ), including Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, al-Qa’ida, and al-Shabaab. (3) Covered provision of law The term covered provision of law means— (A) section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 ( 22 U.S.C. 8513a ); or (B) section 1244 or 1247 of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8803 and 8806). (4) Covered waiver authority The term covered waiver authority means the authority to issue a waiver of the requirement to impose sanctions under— (A) section 1245(d)(5) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 ( 22 U.S.C. 8513a(d)(5) ); or (B) section 1244(i) or 1247(f) of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 ( 22 U.S.C. 8803(i) and 8806(f)).