Iran Nonnuclear Sanctions Act of 2017

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Iran Nonnuclear Sanctions Act of 2017”.

Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Entity— The term entity means a corporation, business association, partnership, trust, society, or any other entity.

Foreign person— The term foreign person means a person that is not a United States person.

IRGC— The term IRGC means Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Person— The term person means an individual or entity.

United States person— The term United States person means—

Secretary of State John Kerry stated on July 23, 2015, “We will not violate the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)] if we use our authorities to impose sanctions on Iran for terrorism, human rights, missiles, or other nonnuclear reasons. And the JCPOA does not provide Iran any relief from United States sanctions under any of those authorities or other authorities.”.

President Barack Obama stated on April 2, 2015, “Other American sanctions on Iran for its support for terrorism, its human rights abuses, its ballistic missile program, will continue to be fully enforced.”.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote on February 9, 2016, “[T]he Islamic Republic of Iran presents an enduring threat to U.S. national interests because of its support to regional terrorist and militant groups and the Assad regime, as well as its development of advanced military capabilities. Tehran views itself as leading the “axis of resistance” which includes the Assad regime and subnational groups aligned with Iran, especially Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shia militants … Tehran might even use American citizens detained when entering Iranian territories as bargaining pieces to achieve financial or political concessions in line with their strategic intentions.”.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote on June 3, 2015, “The United States Intelligence Community continues to assess that Iran and Hezbollah directly threaten the interests of the United States and our allies and that Hezbollah remains a global terrorist threat. Iran remains the foremost state sponsor of terrorism and is increasing its ability to influence regional crises and conduct terrorism. Iran is doing this largely through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC–QF) and Lebanese Hezbollah, as well as the support and use of sectarian political and militant proxies closely aligned with the IRGC–QF and its anti-Western ideology.”.

Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew stated on July 14, 2015, “We harbor no illusions about the Iranian government’s nefarious activities beyond its nuclear program. Make no mistake: We will continue to impose and aggressively enforce sanctions to combat Iran’s support for terrorist groups, its fomenting of violence in the region, and its perpetration of human rights abuses.”.

Jake Sullivan, at the time Deputy Assistant to President Obama and National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden, stated on May 1, 2014, “The wording of the Joint Plan of Action … speaks to the issue of nuclear-related sanctions. And that word was chosen very carefully, nuclear-related, because we have made clear that sanctions relating to terrorism and sanctions relating to human rights violations are not covered by the discussions that we are having on the nuclear file and that we are prepared to continue to follow through on that … I can tell you, as a matter of policy, this administration is committed to continuing to enforce and follow through on that set of sanctions.”.

Jake Sullivan further stated on May 1, 2014, “We must continue to speak out against the gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Iran and the hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric from some of its leaders, and we must keep providing support and assistance to those brave Iranians seeking to have their voices heard … we’ve got to stand up for our values, and we need to stand against the human rights abuses and violations of fundamental freedom, including religious freedom, happening in Iran. And we have to provide real support to those voices on the ground who want to be heard, who want to push for a better future … this is an important line of effort that has to continue regardless of what is happening on the nuclear file or on any other issue.”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated on February 4, 2016, “Rebuilding the confidence of the banks that the United States will not re-intervene in their relations with Iran may require some further assurance from the United States.”.

to continue to impose pressure on the Government of Iran for its role as the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, its continued development of ballistic missiles, its ongoing human rights abuses against the citizens of Iran and other peoples, and its unjust detention of United States citizens;

to continue to use sanctions as an element of that pressure and to discourage financial institutions and entities from engaging in business and commerce with Iranian entities tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and to Iranian officials involved in human rights abuses;

not to encourage any foreign financial institution or other foreign entity to do business in Iran; and

not to provide any assurances regarding protections from United States law or penalties to those foreign entities that decide to engage or reengage in business and commerce with Iran.