Sec. 201 Findings
Congress finds the following:
On May 8, 2018, the President issued National Security Presidential Memorandum 11 entitled “Ceasing United States Participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and Taking Additional Action to Counter Iran’s Malign Influence and Deny Iran All Paths to a Nuclear Weapon”, that—
established that “it is in the national interest of the United States to re-impose sanctions lifted or waived in connection with the JCPOA as expeditiously as possible”; and
instructed the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury to “immediately begin taking steps to reimpose all United States sanctions lifted or waived in connection with the JCPOA, including those under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, and the Iran Freedom and Counterproliferation Act of 2012”.
Section 1245(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8513a(b)) designated the financial sector of Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern for purposes of section 5318A of title 31, United States Code, “because of the threat to government and financial institutions resulting from the illicit activities of the Government of Iran, including its pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for international terrorism, and efforts to deceive responsible financial institutions and evade sanctions”.
Since October 2007, the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organization that sets standards and promotes implementation of measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and related threats to the integrity of the international financial system, identified Iran as posing a “significant vulnerability within the international financial system” due to deficiencies in Iran’s antimoney laundering efforts and efforts to combat the financing of terrorism (collectively known as Iran’s AML/CFT regime).
On November 25, 2011, the Secretary of the Treasury issued a finding under section 5318A of title 31, United States Code, that reasonable grounds exist for concluding that Iran is a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern.
Since June 2016, the Financial Action Task Force has “welcomed Iran’s high-level political commitment to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, and its decision to seek technical assistance in the implementation of the Action Plan”, but—
on September 2, 2017, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami stated that Iran would increase its support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, stating that “perhaps the main fear of the arrogant powers about our relationship with the resistance axis is that they do not want such a pattern to see the light of day”;
on October 8, 2018, the Iranian parliament approved a bill authorizing Iran to join the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, but included exemptions for continued financing of terror organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah; and
on October 19, 2018, the Financial Action Task Force issued a statement noting that “Iran’s action plan expired in January 2018 … [and] the majority of the Action Plan remains outstanding … Until Iran implements the measures required to address the deficiencies identified in the Action Plan, the FATF will remain concerned with the terrorist financing risk emanating from Iran and the threat this poses to the international financial system.”.
On October 11, 2018, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an advisory that “Some of the methods used by the Iranian regime to access the financial system through covert means and to further its malign activities include misusing banks and exchange houses, operating procurement networks that utilize front or shell companies, exploiting commercial shipping, and masking illicit transactions using senior officials … FinCEN expects that Iranian financial institutions, the Iranian regime, and its officials will increase their efforts to evade U.S. sanctions to fund malign activities and secure hard currency for the Government of Iran, following the re-imposition of sanctions lifted under the JCPOA.”.