Maximum Pressure Act

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Maximum Pressure Act”.

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

Iran is the world’s leading State sponsor of terrorism. It seeks “death to America” and the destruction of the State of Israel.

United States sanctions will continue to be applied to and rigorously enforced against the regime in Tehran until Iran has ceased providing support for acts of international terrorism and no longer satisfies the requirements for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, and has ceased the pursuit, acquisition, and development of, and verifiably dismantled its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, ballistic missiles, and ballistic missile launch technology.

Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, its efforts to destroy the State of Israel, its support of terrorism, its destabilizing behavior in the Middle East, its development and proliferation of drones and ballistic missiles, and its gross violations of human rights against its own people and the peoples of the Middle East are a threat to the national security of the United States, our allies, and international peace and security.

Experts from the Institute for Science and International Security estimate that Iran, as of February 2025, has enough highly enriched uranium to produce weapons-grade uranium for 1 nuclear bomb in less than 7 days and has enough enriched uranium to make weapons-grade uranium for as many as 17 nuclear bombs within 4 months. Iran continues to enrich uranium to levels for which there is no conceivable civilian purpose, and which could only be used to produce a nuclear weapon.

According to multiple United States Directors of National Intelligence, Iran has the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the Middle East. Iran also possesses a robust cruise missile arsenal and advanced drone capability, which threaten United States and allied air and missile defenses. Iran tests, transfers, and even uses these systems in military operations abroad.

Iran has given ballistic missiles, drones, and associated technology to the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq, the Assad regime in Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and is trafficking precision-guided munitions parts through the Middle East to upgrade the rocket forces of its chief proxy, Hezbollah.

Iran has sold thousands of drones to Russia for its use in its invasion of Ukraine, leading to mass attacks on civilian infrastructure, and has given Russia the technology and knowledge to produce these drones in Russia.

Iran continues to take United States citizens hostage to extract ransom payments from the United States and exchange arbitrarily detained United States citizens for Iranian agents arrested for violating United States sanctions and for other malign activities.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by former President Barack Obama was fatally flawed, did not eliminate Iran’s pathway to a nuclear weapon, and allowed Iran to retain and refine its ability to quickly resume its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

The failed Iran nuclear agreement allowed Iran to export more than $300,000,000,000 of goods and services from 2015 to 2017 that was used by Iran to fuel proxy wars across the Middle East.

The failed Iran nuclear agreement lifted the United Nations conventional arms embargo on Iran in October 2020, permitting Russia and China to engage in international arms sales with Iran.

The failed Iran nuclear agreement also lifted the United Nations missile embargo on Iran in October 2023, allowing Iran to sell and purchase drone and ballistic missile technology.

A central flaw of the failed Iran nuclear deal was that the agreement solely focused on nuclear weapons and did not address non-nuclear issues like Iran’s support for terrorism, drone and ballistic missile technology, gross human rights abuses, and Iran’s other malign activities.

Iran received significant sanctions relief from the previous sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States, and previous United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

Iran used this sanctions relief to fund its terrorist proxies, regional aggression, and its expansion of its ballistic missile program.

Iran has repeatedly violated the terms of the JCPOA and UNSCR 2231, including by—

Iran repeatedly violated UNSCR 2231’s restrictions on ballistic missile testing and development, as well as United Nations-imposed and internationally binding arms export and import embargoes.

UNSCR 2231 includes a formal mechanism for a participant state of the JCPOA, if it believes there has been significant non-performance of commitments under the JCPOA by Iran, to trigger a process that would require the UNSC to “snapback” all United Nation sanctions on Iran that has been lifted pursuant to UNSCR 2231.

On September 14, 2024, in a joint statement, the United States and United Kingdom acknowledged publicly that Iran’s nuclear program “has never been more advanced and posed a clear threat to regional and global peace and security”.

In June and November of 2024, in efforts led by France, Germany, the United Kingdom (E3), and the United States, the IAEA’s Board of Governors voted to censure Iran for non-compliance with its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Washington, London, and Moscow July 1, 1968 (commonly referred to as the “Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty” or “NPT”).

In February 2025, the IAEA reported that Iran has increased production of 60 percent highly enriched uranium from 7 kilograms to roughly 35 kilograms per month, and currently possesses about 275 kilograms, enough to fuel nearly 7 nuclear weapons. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, if Iran enriched all its uranium stocks to 90 percent, it could fuel 17 weapons within 4 months.

Under UNSCR 2231, the resolution, including the “snapback” mechanism, terminates 10 years after Adoption Day for the JCPOA, which will be October 18, 2025.

The E3 must invoke the “snapback” of United Nations sanctions against Iran under UNSCR 2231 as soon as possible before the option expires on October 18, 2025.

2 weeks after President Trump withdrew from the failed Iran nuclear deal, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out 12 demands that would need to be met by Iran as part of any agreement related to the lifting of sanctions, and the re-establishment of diplomatic and commercial relations with Iran.

Former President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran denied the regime unprecedented revenue it would have otherwise spent on terrorism.

On December 31, 2019, then-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani admitted that Iran had lost $200,000,000,000 in revenue because of United States sanctions.

Iran’s 2019 defense budget cut defense spending by 28 percent, including a 17 percent cut to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Hezbollah terrorists and Iranian backed militias were denied resources and were forced to cut salaries of their fighters.

The Iranian rial lost around 70 percent of its value due to President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran’s accessible foreign exchange reserves plunged to $4,000,000,000 in 2020 from $123,000,000,000 in 2018, or a decrease of over 96 percent.

During the maximum pressure campaign, the United States was able to achieve the release of 2 hostages in Iran, Xiyue Wang and Michael White, without lifting sanctions or transferring cash to Iran.

President Joe Biden’s relentless attempts to re-enter the failed Iran nuclear agreement squandered much of the leverage created by President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign.

The Biden Administration’s pursuit of an even weaker deal with Iran broke previous pledges made by administration officials to pursue a “longer and stronger” deal that extended sunset dates of restrictions, and which would cover a broader range of Iran’s malign activity.

Amid the multiple failed rounds of talks to get Iran to re-enter the Iran nuclear agreement, the Biden administration reportedly offered to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, despite the group’s obvious involvement in and support for terrorism, until news of this offer became public.

The Iranian regime has made around $200,000,000,000 in illicit oil sales since President Biden took office due to the administration’s lax enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil exports. Total Iranian oil exports reached nearly 2,000,000 barrels per day in August 2023, the highest since before the maximum pressure campaign began.

In 2021, Iran increased funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by 14 percent, reversing budget cuts imposed as a result of maximum pressure.

Iran’s accessible foreign exchange reserves have risen from $4,000,000,000 in 2020 to at least $43,000,000,000 in 2023.

In July 2023, the United States unfroze nearly $10,000,000,000 held in Iraqi banks for Iraq to pay to the Iranian regime.

In August 2023, the Biden Administration agreed to give Iran access to $6,000,000,000 in previously frozen funds and released several Iranians in prison for violating United States sanctions in exchange for the release of 5 United States hostages. This represents the largest ransom payment in United States history.

On March 18, 2021, in an interview with BBC Persian, President Biden’s Special Envoy for Iran and lead United States negotiator in talks to re-enter the Iran deal, Robert Malley, stated “President Biden and all of his senior advisers have said this—the maximum pressure campaign has failed. It was a failure, a predicted failure. It hasn’t made life any better for the Iranian people; it hasn’t made life any better for the United States and the region; it hasn’t brought us any closer to this better deal that President Trump spoke about.”.

In June 2023, it was revealed that the State Department had placed Malley on leave and had suspended his security clearance, reportedly due to accusations that Malley mishandled classified information.

In September 2023, it was revealed that Malley had deep ties to several experts who were part of an Iranian Government influence operation during the Iran deal negotiations to convince Western governments to support lighter demands on Iran. These experts have since served in senior staff positions in the Department of Defense and have advised executive branch officials on issues related to Iran.

In September 2022, the Iranian regime’s “Morality Police” detained, brutally beat, and killed 22-year old Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating Islamic dress code. Mahsa’s death spurred the largest anti-regime and pro-democracy protests in Iran since the 1979 revolution, with hundreds of thousands of Iranians chanting “Death to the Dictator”.

Iranian regime forces cracked down on the protests, killing at least 500 protestors, and eventually reinstated street patrols of the Morality Police and has continued brutalizing women who do not adhere to its strict dress code.

On September 12, 2023, the House of Representatives passed the passed the MAHSA Act, which imposes sanctions on Iranian leadership, including the Supreme Leader of Iran, for their responsibility for Mahsa’s death and for their repression of innocent Iranians like Mahsa. The MAHSA Act represents a Congress bipartisan consensus that the Biden administration’s policy on Iran has clearly failed and that Iranian regime officials must be held accountable for their crimes.

Emboldened by the failure of the Biden administration’s Iran policy, Iranian proxy group Hamas carried out a massacre of Israeli and other civilians on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals, including United States citizens, and which took nearly 200 people into Gaza as hostages.

The Congress supports Israel’s defensive military campaign against Hamas and its stated goals to destroy Hamas, secure the return of all hostages, and prevent such an attack from ever happening again.

Additionally, Hezbollah’s escalation of rocket, drone, and missile attacks against northern Israel following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack displaced tens of thousands of Israeli civilians and posed an ongoing threat to regional stability.

Israel’s efforts to neutralize Hezbollah’s command structure was a critical step in countering Iran’s malign influence through its proxy networks, consistent with shared United States-Israel strategic objectives to combat terrorism and promote security in the Middle East.

Israel’s precision airstrikes in September 2024, which resulted in the liquidation of Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, and other senior commanders in Beirut, effectively disrupted the operational capacity of this Iran-backed terrorist organization, responsible for over 300 projectile attacks on Israel since October 2023, and recognizes these actions as advancing shared United States-Israel goals of regional stability and counterterrorism.

Taking advantage of the situation, Ansar Allah (the Houthis), an Iran-backed militant group, conducted over 100 attacks on commercial vessels and U.S. Navy warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023, endangering American personnel, disrupting global trade, and threatening freedom of navigation through critical maritime chokepoints such as the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

President Trump’s authorization of large-scale air and naval strikes on March 15, 2025, against Ansar Allah (the Houthis) in Yemen, targeting their missile, drone, and radar capabilities, was a necessary and justified response to the Houthi attacks on United States Navy warships and commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November 2023, and supports these actions as vital to protecting American lives, securing maritime trade routes, and countering Iran-backed terrorism.

National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM–2), issued by President Donald J. Trump on February 4, 2025, strengthens United States policy by directing maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran to halt its support for terrorist proxies like Ansar Allah and Hezbollah, and supports this memorandum as a critical framework for denying Iran the resources to threaten United States interests and allies in the Middle East.

Iran and its proxies have planned, directed, sponsored, and funded terrorist plots throughout the world and on United States soil, including the October 2023, mass murder and hostage-taking of Israeli civilians by Hamas and the killing of at least 31 United States citizens in that attack, the 2011 attempted assassination of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States in Washington, DC, the 1994 bombing of the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed over 85 people, and the 2012 bus bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed 5 Israelis.

NSPM–2 is a vital component of United States national security strategy, recognizing that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Quds Force have armed, trained, and directed Ansar Allah and Hezbollah, contributing to attacks on United States forces, allies, and international shipping.

NSPM–2 enhances the effectiveness of military actions against Iran’s proxies, such as the strikes on Ansar Allah and Israel’s operations against Hezbollah, by addressing the root source of their funding and logistical support, thereby advancing United States interests in a stable and secure Middle East.

Iran is clearly culpable for Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, as a result of its funding, training, and coordination of Hamas and other terrorist organizations;

any funds directly or indirectly released to Iran, or funds freed up by the expectation of the imminent release of those funds, benefit Iran’s terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah and encourage further acts of terrorism;

all funds previously released to Iran be immediately frozen and that all licenses and waivers allowing funding to directly or indirectly flow to Iran be suspended immediately; and

the only suitable punishment for Iran’s participation in and organization of this mass murder is for the United States to halt its appeasement of the Iranian regime and to return to a policy of maximum pressure.

To deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles capability, including by permanently, verifiably, and irreversibly eliminating its capabilities related to enrichment.

To deter and defeat any attempts by Iran and its terrorist proxies to destroy the State of Israel.

To roll back the totality of Iran’s malign influence and activities in the Middle East.

To support the human rights of the people of Iran and to encourage their continued opposition to their illegitimate and brutal regime.

To require that any new agreement with Iran should be submitted to the Senate for ratification as a treaty.

To impose maximum economic pressure on Iran, and keep all sanctions in place on Iran, until the regime fulfills the following 12 demands laid out by former Secretary of State Pompeo on May 21, 2018:

United states policy— The United States, in 2025, declared through National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM–2), issued by President Donald J. Trump on February 4, 2025, and has reaffirmed since, that “The United States will pursue a policy of maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on the Iranian regime to deny it all paths to a nuclear weapon, curtail its ballistic missile program, and counter its support for terrorist proxies, including but not limited to Ansar Allah and Hezbollah, until such time as Iran ceases its malign activities and complies with international obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions”.

Reaffirmation and codification of policy— The United States hereby reaffirms that policy. In accordance with NSPM–2, no officer or employee of the United States Government and no agent or other individual acting on behalf of the United States Government shall provide sanctions relief to, rescind or otherwise fail to enforce sanctions against the Government of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or any representatives thereof (except in emergency or humanitarian situations) unless and until Iran ceases its support for international terrorism, halts its ballistic missile development, and verifiably dismantles its nuclear weapons program, and no funds authorized to be appropriated by this or any other Act may be obligated or made available for the conduct of any dialogue or engagement with Iranian officials or entities if the President knows and advises the Congress that such officials or entities directly participated in the planning or execution of a particular terrorist activity which resulted in the death or kidnapping of a United States person.