Closing IRGC Sanctions Loopholes Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2958 To provide for additional sanctions with respect to foreign persons that are officials, agents, or affiliates of, or owned or controlled by, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. LAMBORN (for himself and Mr. HERN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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 committee concerned A BILL To provide for additional sanctions with respect to foreign persons that are officials, agents, or affiliates of, or owned or controlled by, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Closing IRGC Sanc- 4 tions Loopholes Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2958 IH SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FOR- 1 EIGN PERSONS THAT ARE OFFICIALS, 2 AGENTS, OR AFFILIATES OF, OR OWNED OR 3 CONTROLLED BY, IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY 4 GUARD CORPS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a) of the Iran Threat 6 Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 7 U.S.C. 8741(a)) is amended— 8 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 9 striking ‘‘Not later than 90 days after the date of 10 the enactment of this Act, and as appropriate there- 11 after,’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than 180 days after 12 the date of the enactment of the National Defense 13 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, and every 14 180 days thereafter,’’; 15 (2) in paragraph (1)— 16 (A) by inserting ‘‘, or owned or controlled 17 by,’’ after ‘‘affiliates of’’; and 18 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 20 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 21 (4) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(3) identify foreign persons with respect to 23 which there is a reasonable basis to determine that 24 the foreign persons have, directly or indirectly, at- 25 tempted to conduct one or more sensitive trans- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2958 IH actions or activities described in subsection (c) for or 1 on behalf of a foreign person described in paragraph 2 (1).’’. 3 (b) PRIORITY FOR INVESTIGATION; DETERMINATION 4 AND REPORT.—Section 301(b) of the Iran Threat Reduc- 5 tion and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 6 8741(b)) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY FOR INVESTIGATION; DETERMINA- 8 TION AND REPORT.— 9 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY FOR INVESTIGATION.—In identi- 10 fying foreign persons pursuant to subsection (a)(1) 11 as officials, agents, or affiliates of Iran’s Revolu- 12 tionary Guard Corps, the President shall inves- 13 tigate— 14 ‘‘(A) foreign persons or entities identified 15 under section 560.304 of title 31, Code of Fed- 16 eral Regulations (relating to the definition of 17 the Government of Iran); 18 ‘‘(B) foreign persons for which there is a 19 reasonable basis to find that the person has 20 conducted or attempted to conduct one or more 21 sensitive transactions or activities described in 22 subsection (c); and 23 ‘‘(C) foreign persons listed under the head- 24 ings ‘Attachment 3’ or ‘Attachment 4’ in Annex 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2958 IH A of United Nations Security Council Resolu- 1 tion 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015.’’. 2 (c) SENSITIVE TRANSACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES DE- 3 SCRIBED.—Section 301(c) of the Iran Threat Reduction 4 and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8741(c)) 5 is amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘$1,000,000’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘$500,000’’; and 9 (B) by inserting ‘‘Iranian financial institu- 10 tion or’’ after ‘‘involving a’’; 11 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and 12 (5) as paragraphs (6), (7), and (8), respectively; and 13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 14 lowing new paragraphs: 15 ‘‘(3) a transaction to provide material support 16 for an organization designated as a foreign terrorist 17 organization under section 219(a) of the Immigra- 18 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)) or sup- 19 port for an act of international terrorism (as defined 20 in section 14 of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 21 (Public Law 104–172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note)); 22 ‘‘(4) a transaction to provide material support 23 to a foreign person whose property and access to 24 property has been blocked pursuant to Executive 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2958 IH Order 13224 (September 23, 2001; relating to 1 blocking property and prohibiting transactions with 2 persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support 3 terrorism); 4 ‘‘(5) a transaction to provide material support 5 for the Government of Syria or any agency or in- 6 strumentality thereof;’’. 7 (d) WAIVER OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—Section 8 301(e) of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human 9 Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8741(e)) is amended by 10 adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(3) SUNSET.—The provisions of this sub- 12 section and any waivers issued pursuant to this sub- 13 section shall terminate at the close of December 31, 14 2025.’’. 15 (e) REGULATIONS, IMPLEMENTATION, PENALTIES, 16 AND DEFINITIONS.—Section 301 of the Iran Threat Re- 17 duction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 18 8741) is amended— 19 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 20 section (h); and 21 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 22 lowing new subsections: 23 ‘‘(f) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, attempts to 24 violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2958 IH section (a) or any regulation, license, or order issued to 1 carry out subsection (a) shall be subject to the penalties 2 set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the 3 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 4 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that commits 5 an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section. 6 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘foreign per- 8 son’ means— 9 ‘‘(A) an individual who is not a United 10 States person; 11 ‘‘(B) a corporation, partnership, or other 12 nongovernmental entity which is not a United 13 States person; or 14 ‘‘(C) any representative, agent or instru- 15 mentality of, or an individual working on behalf 16 of a foreign government. 17 ‘‘(2) IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS.— 18 The term ‘Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ in- 19 cludes any senior foreign political figure (as defined 20 in section 1010.605 of title 31, Code of Federal 21 Regulations) of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. 22 ‘‘(3) OWN OR CONTROL.—The term ‘own or 23 control’ means, with respect to an entity— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2958 IH ‘‘(A) to hold more than 25 percent of the 1 equity interest by vote or value in the entity; 2 ‘‘(B) to hold a majority of seats on the 3 board of directors of the entity; or 4 ‘‘(C) to otherwise control the actions, poli- 5 cies, or personnel decisions of the entity. 6 ‘‘(4) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 7 ‘United States person’ means— 8 ‘‘(A) a United States citizen or an alien 9 lawfully admitted for permanent residence to 10 the United States; or 11 ‘‘(B) an entity organized under the laws of 12 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 13 the United States, including a foreign branch of 14 such an entity.’’. 15 (f) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 16 The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act 17 of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8701 et seq.) is amended— 18 (1) by striking the heading of section 301 and 19 inserting the following: 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2958 IH ‘‘SEC. 301. IDENTIFICATION OF, AND IMPOSITION OF SANC- 1 TIONS WITH RESPECT TO, FOREIGN PERSONS 2 THAT ARE OFFICIALS, AGENTS OR AFFILI- 3 ATES OF, OR OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY, 4 IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS.’’; and 5 (2) in the table of contents, by striking the item 6 relating to section 301 and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘Sec. 301. Identification of, and imposition of sanctions with respect to, foreign persons that are officials, agents or affiliates of, or owned or controlled by, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 May 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2958.IH H2958 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS