118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5961
AN ACT
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 2
•HR 5961 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Funds for Iranian 2
Terrorism Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4
Congress makes the following findings: 5
(1) On October 7, 2023, Iran-backed Hamas 6
terrorists launched a massive, unprovoked war on 7
Israel by air, land, and sea, in which they engaged 8
in the brutal murder of over 1,300 people and kid-9
napped at least 230 people who are now being held 10
hostage. 11
(2) Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and 12
Hezbollah have all been designated by the United 13
States as Foreign Terrorist Organizations pursuant 14
to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality 15
Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 16
(3) Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and as-17
sociated terrorist organizations backed by Iran rou-18
tinely and unabashedly use civilians as ‘‘human 19
shields’’ to shield their weapons and terrorist mili-20
tants from legitimate military engagement, a con-21
travention of international humanitarian law and a 22
heinous violation of the rights and dignity of civilian 23
noncombatants. 24
(4) Only the cessation of Hamas’ operations, 25
the unconditional surrender of Hamas, and the im-26 3
•HR 5961 EH
mediate dismantlement of Hamas and all other Iran- 1
backed terrorist organizations that participated in 2
the massacre of Israelis on and since October 7, 3
2023, will ensure that innocent Israeli and Pales-4
tinian civilian lives are saved. 5
(5) According to an unclassified United States 6
government assessment, ‘‘Iran has historically pro-7
vided up to $100 million annually in combined sup-8
port to Palestinian terrorist groups, including 9
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the 10
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Gen-11
eral Command.’’. 12
(6) As National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan 13
stated on October 10, 2023, ‘‘Iran is complicit in 14
this attack in a broad sense because they have pro-15
vided the lion’s share of the funding for the military 16
wing of Hamas, they have provided training, they 17
have provided capabilities, they have provided sup-18
port, and they have provided engagement and con-19
tact with Hamas over years and years.’’. 20
(7) President Biden reached an agreement with 21
the Iranian regime to bring home Siamak Namazi, 22
Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two additional 23
American hostages all of whom were wrongfully de-24
tained in Iran. 25 4
•HR 5961 EH
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO COV-1
ERED IRANIAN ASSETS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—On and after the date of the en-3
actment of this Act, the President shall impose the sanc-4
tion described in subsection (c) with respect to each for-5
eign financial institution that the President determines en-6
gages in an activity described in subsection (b). 7
(b) A
CTIVITIESDESCRIBED.—A foreign financial in-8
stitution engages in an activity described in this subsection 9
if the institution processes, participates in, or facilitates 10
a transaction using or involving covered Iranian funds. 11
(c) B
LOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The sanction de-12
scribed in this subsection is the exercise of all of the pow-13
ers granted to the President under the International 14
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 15
seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all 16
transactions in property and interests in property of a for-17
eign financial institution described in subsection (a) if 18
such property and interests in property are in the United 19
States, come within the United States, or are or come 20
within the possession or control of a United States person. 21
(d) P
ENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in sub-22
sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 23
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall 24
apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, con-25
spires to violate, or causes a violation of this section or 26 5
•HR 5961 EH
any regulations promulgated to carry out this section to 1
the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that 2
commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of 3
that Act. 4
(e) T
ERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The President 5
shall not be required to impose sanctions under this sec-6
tion with respect to a foreign financial institution or inter-7
national financial institution described in subsection (a) 8
if the President certifies in writing to the appropriate con-9
gressional committees not later than 45 days before the 10
termination of such sanctions that the Government of 11
Iran— 12
(1) no longer repeatedly provides support for 13
international terrorism as determined by the Sec-14
retary of State pursuant to— 15
(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 16
Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 17
4318(c)(1)(A)); 18
(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 19
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 20
(C) section 40 of the Arms Export Control 21
Act (22 U.S.C. 2780); or 22
(D) any other provision of law; and 23
(2) has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and de-24
velopment of, and verifiably dismantled its, nuclear, 25 6
•HR 5961 EH
biological, and chemical weapons and ballistic mis-1
siles and ballistic missile launch technology. 2
(f) E
XCEPTIONRELATINGTOIMPORTATION OF 3
G
OODS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The authorities and require-5
ments to impose sanctions authorized under this Act 6
shall not include the authority or requirement to im-7
pose sanctions on the importation of goods. 8
(2) G
OOD DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 9
term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or man- 10
made substance, material, supply, or manufactured 11
product, including inspection and test equipment, 12
and excluding technical data. 13
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 14
It is the sense of Congress that the terrorist-funding, 15
human rights-violating Iranian regime should receive no 16
additional funds but that basic humanitarian assistance 17
for the people of Iran is important. 18
SEC. 5. LIMITATION OF APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN LI-19
CENSES. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-21
sion of law, on and after the date of the enactment of 22
this Act, the President may not— 23
(1) exercise the waiver authority described in 24
section 1245(d)(5) of the National Defense Author-25 7
•HR 5961 EH
ization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 and sections 1
1244(i) and 1247(f) of the Iran Freedom and 2
Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 permitting the 3
Government of Iran or any Iranian person access to 4
any account established or maintained pursuant to 5
or in accordance with section 1245(d)(4)(D)(ii)(II) 6
of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 7
Year 2012; or 8
(2) issue a general or specific license, frequently 9
asked question, or any other licensing action or 10
guidance permitting the Government of Iran or any 11
Iranian person access to or to benefit directly or in-12
directly from any account established pursuant to or 13
in accordance with any account described in 14
1245(d)(4)(D)(ii)(II) of the National Defense Au-15
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. 16
(b) I
MPORTATION OFGOODS.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The exercise of the authori-18
ties and requirements under paragraph (1) or (2) of 19
subsection (a)— 20
(A) shall not include the authority or re-21
quirement to impose sanctions on the importa-22
tion of goods; and 23
(B) shall not apply to any procurement 24
sanctions. 25 8
•HR 5961 EH
(2) GOOD DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 1
term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or manmade 2
substance, material, supply or manufactured prod-3
uct, including inspection and test equipment, and ex-4
cluding technical data. 5
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -8
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-9
mittees’’ means— 10
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 11
the Committee on Financial Services of the 12
House of Representatives; and 13
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 14
and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 15
Urban Affairs of the Senate. 16
(2) C
OVERED IRANIAN FUNDS .—The term ‘‘cov-17
ered Iranian funds’’ means any funds transferred 18
from accounts in the Republic of Korea to Qatar 19
pursuant to or under the authority or guaranty of 20
a waiver, license, assurance letter, or other guidance 21
issued pursuant to or in furtherance of the waiver 22
determination made pursuant to sections 1244(i) 23
(22 U.S.C. 8803(i)) and 1247(f) of the Iran Free-24
dom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (22 25 9
•HR 5961 EH
U.S.C. 8806(f)) and section 1245(d)(5) of the Na-1
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2
2012 (22 U.S.C. 8513a(d)(5)) that is the subject of 3
the document entitled ‘‘Waiver of Sanctions with Re-4
spect to the Transfer of Funds from the Republic of 5
Korea to Qatar’’ and was transmitted to Congress in 6
September 2023. 7
(3) F
OREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION .—The 8
term ‘‘foreign financial institution’’ has the meaning 9
given such term under section 561.308 of title 31, 10
Code of Federal Regulations. 11
SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON QATAR. 12
It is the sense of Congress that the Government of 13
Qatar should publicly condemn Hamas, turn Hamas lead-14
ership over the United States or Israeli control, and pledge 15
never to facilitate the transfer of any covered Iranian 16
funds to Iran or any agency or instrumentality of Iran. 17
SEC. 8. REPORT ON IRANIAN INTERNET CENSORSHIP. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 19
and the Secretary of State shall jointly submit to Congress 20
a report regarding Iranian internet censorship and appli-21
cable United States licensing requirements. Such report 22
shall include the following: 23
(1) An assessment of the Iranian Government’s 24
ability to impose internet shutdowns, censor the 25 10
•HR 5961 EH
internet, and track Iranian dissidents, labor orga-1
nizers, political activists, or human rights defenders 2
inside Iran through targeted digital surveillance or 3
other digital means. 4
(2) An assessment of the impact of General Li-5
cense D-2, issued on September 23, 2022, on the 6
availability of private communications tools inside 7
Iran, including encryption tools to assist the people 8
of Iran in circumventing targeted digital surveillance 9
by the Iranian Government. 10
(3) A determination of whether additional up-11
dates to General License D-2 or other licenses are 12
needed to keep up with the pace of technology and 13
ensure that United States restrictions do not unin-14
tentionally inhibit the flow of vital communication 15
tools to the people of Iran, including cloud tech-16
nology, hardware, software, and services incident to 17
personal communications, including set-top boxes 18
(STB), satellites, and web developer tools. 19
(4) A strategy to ensure that resources are 20
available for digital rights experts to study Iran’s 21
online repression and identify opportunities to 22
counter it. 23
(5) A strategy to prevent the Government of 24
Iran from acquiring or developing tools that could be 25 11
•HR 5961 EH
exploited against activists, including facial recogni-1
tion software. 2
(b) F
ORM.—The report required pursuant to sub-3
section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 4
include a classified annex if such annex is provided sepa-5
rately from such unclassified version. 6
(c) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘targeted 7
digital surveillance’’ means the use of items or services 8
that enable an individual or entity (with or without the 9
knowing authorization of the product’s owner) to detect, 10
monitor, intercept, collect, exploit, preserve, protect, trans-11
mit, retain, or otherwise gain access to the communica-12
tions, sensitive or protected information, work product, 13
browsing data, research, identifying information, location 14
history, or online or offline activities of other individuals, 15
organizations, or entities. 16
SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 17
It is the sense of Congress that all United States al-18
lies in the Middle East should publicly and unequivocally 19
condemn the antisemitism displayed by Iranian-backed 20
terrorist groups, including Hamas. 21
SEC. 10. PROHIBITION ON FUNDS. 22
No federal funds may be used to make any funds (as 23
such term is defined in section 2339C(e)(1) of title 18, 24
United States Code) available to Iran. 25 12
•HR 5961 EH
SEC. 11. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE HOUTHIS. 1
It is the sense of Congress that the Houthis, an Iran- 2
backed terrorist group which has hijacked a Japanese-op-3
erated cargo ship, kidnapped and tortured United States 4
citizens, and supports Hamas’ ongoing war against Israel, 5
continues to benefit from the Biden Administration’s fail-6
ure to unequivocally condemn it. 7
SEC. 12. REPORT ON POLICY RELATING TO HUMAN RIGHTS, 8
NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, BALLISTIC MIS-9
SILES, AND REGIONAL TERRORISM IN IRAN. 10
Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact-11
ment of this Act, the President shall submit to Congress 12
a report (which may contain a classified annex) outlining 13
the policy of the United States with respect to human 14
rights, nuclear proliferation, the ballistic missile program, 15
and regional terrorism in Iran. 16
Passed the House of Representatives November 30,
2023.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 5961
AN ACT
To freeze certain Iranian funds involved in the
2023 hostage deal between the United States and
Iran, and for other purposes.