I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5961
To freeze certain Iranian funds involved in the 2023 hostage deal between
the United States and Iran, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER16, 2023
Mr. M
CCAUL(for himself, Mr. SCALISE, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. WILSONof South
Carolina, Mrs. R
ODGERSof Washington, Mr. BARR, Mr. BURCHETT,
Mrs. W
AGNER, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. KEANof New Jersey, Mr. BAIRD, Mr.
S
MITHof New Jersey, Mr. ISSA, Mr. MORAN, Mr. JAMES, Mr. WALTZ,
Mr. S
ELF, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. MAST, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mrs. KIMof
California, Mr. B
UCK, Mr. MILLS, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. JACKSONof
Texas, and Mr. L
AWLER) introduced the following bill
O
CTOBER25, 2023
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To freeze certain Iranian funds involved in the 2023 hostage
deal between the United States and Iran, and for other
purposes.
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 ‘‘No Funds for Iranian 4
Terrorism Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress makes the following findings: 2
(1) On October 7, 2023, Iran-backed Hamas 3
terrorists launched a massive, unprovoked war on 4
Israel by air, land, and sea, in which they engaged 5
in the brutal murder of over 1,300 people and kid-6
napped 130 people who are now being held hostage. 7
(2) Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and 8
Hezbollah have all been designated by the United 9
States as Foreign Terrorist Organizations pursuant 10
to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality 11
Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 12
(3) According to an unclassified United States 13
government assessment, ‘‘Iran has historically pro-14
vided up to $100 million annually in combined sup-15
port to Palestinian terrorist groups, including 16
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the 17
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Gen-18
eral Command.’’. 19
(4) As National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan 20
stated on October 10, 2023, ‘‘Iran is complicit in 21
this attack in a broad sense because they have pro-22
vided the lion’s share of the funding for the military 23
wing of Hamas, they have provided training, they 24
have provided capabilities, they have provided sup-25
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port, and they have provided engagement and con-1
tact with Hamas over years and years.’’. 2
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO COV-3
ERED IRANIAN ASSETS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—On and after the date of the en-5
actment of this Act, the President shall impose the sanc-6
tion described in subsection (c) with respect to each for-7
eign financial institution and each international financial 8
institution that the President determines engages in an 9
activity described in subsection (b). 10
(b) A
CTIVITIESDESCRIBED.—A foreign financial in-11
stitution or international financial institution engages in 12
an activity described in this subsection if the institution 13
processes, participates in, or facilitates a transaction using 14
or involving covered Iranian funds. 15
(c) B
LOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The sanction de-16
scribed in this subsection is the exercise of all of the pow-17
ers granted to the President under the International 18
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 19
seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all 20
transactions in property and interests in property of a for-21
eign financial institution or international financial institu-22
tion described in subsection (a) if such property and inter-23
ests in property are in the United States, come within the 24
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United States, or are or come within the possession or 1
control of a United States person. 2
(d) P
ENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in sub-3
sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 4
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall 5
apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, con-6
spires to violate, or causes a violation of this section or 7
any regulations promulgated to carry out this section to 8
the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that 9
commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of 10
that Act. 11
(e) T
ERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The President 12
shall not be required to impose sanctions under this sec-13
tion with respect to a foreign financial institution or inter-14
national financial institution described in subsection (a) 15
if the President certifies in writing to the appropriate con-16
gressional committees that the Government of Iran— 17
(1) no longer repeatedly provides support for 18
international terrorism as determined by the Sec-19
retary of State pursuant to— 20
(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 21
Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 22
4318(c)(1)(A)); 23
(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 24
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 25
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(C) section 40 of the Arms Export Control 1
Act (22 U.S.C. 2780); or 2
(D) any other provision of law; and 3
(2) has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and de-4
velopment of, and verifiably dismantled its, nuclear, 5
biological, and chemical weapons and ballistic mis-6
siles and ballistic missile launch technology. 7
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 8
In this Act: 9
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -10
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-11
mittees’’ means— 12
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 13
the Committee on Financial Services of the 14
House of Representatives; and 15
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 16
and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 17
Urban Affairs of the Senate. 18
(2) C
OVERED IRANIAN FUNDS .—The term ‘‘cov-19
ered Iranian funds’’ means any funds transferred 20
from accounts in the Republic of Korea to Qatar 21
pursuant to or under the authority or guaranty of 22
a waiver, license, assurance letter, or other guidance 23
issued pursuant to or in furtherance of the waiver 24
determination made pursuant to sections 1244(i) 25
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(22 U.S.C. 8803(i) and 1247(f) of the Iran Freedom 1
and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 2
8806(f)) and section 1245(d)(5) of the National De-3
fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (22 4
U.S.C. 8513a(d)(5)) that is the subject of the docu-5
ment entitled ‘‘Waiver of Sanctions with Respect to 6
the Transfer of Funds from the Republic of Korea 7
to Qatar’’ and was transmitted to Congress in Sep-8
tember 2023. 9
(3) F
OREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION .—The 10
term ‘‘foreign financial institution’’ has the meaning 11
given such term under section 561.308 of title 31, 12
Code of Federal Regulations. 13
(4) I
NTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITU -14
TION.—The term ‘‘international financial institu-15
tion’’ has the meaning given such term in section 16
1701(c) of the International Financial Institutions 17
Act (22 U.S.C. 262r(c)). 18
Æ
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