[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3049 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3049
To freeze $6,000,000,000 of Iranian funds held in Qatar, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
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 ``Revoke Iranian Funding Act of
2023''.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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)).
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