Separate Bills Increasing Sanctions on Iran, Syria Approved by Senate and House Committees

“Without question, we have to play every card and pull every lever we have,” said Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., in his opening statement at the May 22 markup (here). He said the legislation, which Royce and Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., introduced, attacks Iran’s oil exports, hits its “brutal leaders,” and crimps its access to overseas cash.

The bill requires the Treasury Secretary to determine if Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps can be designated as a foreign terrorist organization, and gives a sense of Congress that the administration should investigate whether Iranian government officials deserve sanctions for human rights abuses. The bill includes an additional sense of Congress that the Iranian government has access to goods and services -- which should be inaccessible due to sanctions -- because it can use euro-denominated transactions. The bill asks for U.S.-EU cooperation to restrict Iran’s access to euros for such transactions.

The other sections of the bill are:

• Mandatory sanctions against financial institutions that engage in transactions on behalf of persons involved in human rights abuses, or who export sensitive technology to Iran
• Sanctions against foreign entities that “knowingly conducted or facilitated a significant financial transaction with the Central bank of Iran,” or other Iranian financial institutions are designated by the Treasury Department
• The bill also includes exceptions to the above sanctions. If the country with primary jurisdiction over the entity significantly reduces the value of goods and services exports (except petroleum and petroleum products) to Iran, or significantly reduces the value of imports (except petroleum and petroleum products) from Iran. There are also exceptions for sales of agricultural commodities, food, medicine and medical devices; a separate section in the bill includes exceptions for entities that “significantly reduced” the volume of crude oil purchased from Iran, or crude oil of Iranian origin.
• Sanctions against foreign financial institutions that have knowingly facilitated “a significant financial transaction” on behalf of any entity on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals list.
• Requirement for the President to submit a report on Iran’s nuclear and economic capabilities -- including projected effects of international sanctions -- within 60 days, and every 60 days thereafter.
• Development of an annual national strategy to provide guidance for activities to support addressing threats posted by Iran
• Requires a Government Accountability Office report on sanctions enforcement

At a May 15 hearing on the bill, representatives from the State and Treasury Departments said they were willing to work with Congress to improve the effectiveness of the administration’s Iran policy. Read testimony from that hearing (here).Read the complete bill (here).

In the Senate, the Syrian Transition Support Act passed the Committee 15-3 on May 21. The bill, introduced by Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Ranking Member Bob Corker, R-Tenn., includes new sanctions on persons who have facilitated oil and arms transactions to the Assad regime. It gives authority to provide arms, military training and non-lethal supplies to the Syrian armed opposition. The bill also allows for sanctions removal, once a transitional government is in place in Syria and certain terrorism and weapons of mass destruction criteria are met. See more on the bill (here).