Sec. 101. Findings

404 words·~2 min read·/bill/114/hr/4258/ih/section-101

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds the following: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps

(IRGC)threatens the national security of the United States and United States allies. The IRGC provides direct sponsorship and support to numerous foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and maintains support for the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. The United States holds the IRGC responsible for severe and continuing human rights violations against the Iranian people, including unlawful arrests, torture, and harassment. The United States currently upholds sanctions against the IRGC for its support of terrorism and human rights abuses. The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury currently includes the IRGC on the list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury (in this section referred to as the SDN list ). The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury includes on the SDN list entities in which the IRGC owns a 50 percent or greater interest. The inclusion of an entity on the SDN list results in the blocking of all assets and property of such entity. This regulation, commonly termed the 50 percent rule , is codified in section 561.405 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, and is the standard used by the Office of Foreign Assets Control when determining ownership of entities owned or controlled by blocked or sanctioned persons. The IRGC maintains a powerful and expansive presence throughout Iran’s financial, commercial, and oil sectors, owning, controlling, operating, and influencing Iranian entities while producing revenues estimated in the billions of dollars. According to the Department of the Treasury, The IRGC has a growing presence in Iran’s financial and commercial sectors and extensive economic interests in the defense production, construction, and oil industries, controlling billions of dollars in corporate business. . The IRGC has continuously practiced sanctions evasion and deceptive business practices to conceal its ownership over Iranian entities, owning numerous Iranian entities which are not on the SDN list because IRGC ownership is below 50 percent, leaving such entities unsanctioned and open to business. As sanctions are lifted and Iran becomes more open to international commerce, the international community must be aware of any and all entities that are IRGC-owned, -controlled, -operated, or influenced, including those entities that do not make the threshold to be included on the SDN list.