Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: As of August 8, 2016, United States courts had awarded more than $55,000,000,000 in terrorism-related judgments against Iran to plaintiffs under the terrorism exception to the jurisdictional immunity of a foreign state under section 1605A of title 28, United States Code. Such judgments against Iran include judgments relating to Iran's involvement in the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon, a hostage-taking in Lebanon in 1984, a 1990 assassination in New York City, the 1996 Khobar Towers attack, the 1998 attacks on two United States Embassies in Africa, and various terrorist bombings in Jerusalem.
On November 4, 1979, more than 60 Americans were captured at the United States Embassy in Tehran. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage by the Islamic Republic of Iran for 444 days. On December 18, 2015, President Barack Obama signed into law the Justice for United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act ( 42 U.S.C. 10609 ) and established the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund to compensate United States victims of terrorism who either hold a final judgment issued against a state sponsor of terrorism under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, or were taken hostage from the United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, in 1979, or are a spouse or child of someone who was taken hostage.
As of August 8, 2016, the United States Government has failed to provide any of the compensation authorized under the Justice for United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act. On January 17, 2016, President Barack Obama announced that 4 United States citizens (Jason Rezaian, Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari) unjustly held by Iran and one United States citizen (Matthew Trevithick) who had been detained by Iran, but not charged, had been released in exchange for the release of 7 Iranian nationals jailed or facing charges in the United States and that the United States dropped its request with Interpol relating to 14 Iranian nationals.
At the same time the United States announced a settlement of an Iranian claim for $1,700,000,000, consisting of $400,000,000 held in a foreign military sales account since the 1979 Iranian revolution and a settlement of $1,300,000,000 in interest. On April 5, 2016, White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest, in response to a question from a reporter about whether the Obama administration misled Congress about the Iran deal, stated: I don’t think there’s any evidence to substantiate that kind of claim … I think you should take a rather dim view of that suggestion because Congressman Pompeo … didn’t approve the deal and certainly didn’t vote in favor of it. .
On June 9, 2016, Bloomberg News reported that Iran instructed its Central Bank to transfer $1,700,000,000 to the military of Iran, probably a reference to the payment described in paragraph (4). Overall, Iran’s military budget for 2017 increased to $19,000,000,000, an increase of 90 percent from 2016. On August 3, 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States had airlifted $400,000,000 in cash to Iran in wooden pallets with euros, Swiss francs, and other currencies in an unmarked cargo plane, which was later clarified to reportedly be an Iran Air cargo plane.
The report stated that the money came from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland. On August 4, 2016, Saeed Abedini said in an interview on FOX Business Network that the hostages had to wait overnight at the airport because they were unable to leave until another plane arrived in Iran; the hostages left on a plane that had been at the airport the entire time. General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated that taking this money back was in return for the release of the American spies .
On August 3, 2016, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner stated that there was no quid pro quo in reaction to a question regarding the statement in paragraph (8). On August 3, 2016, White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest stated A week delay [in sequencing the payments to not be perceived as a quid pro quo] would not have prevented [Speaker] Paul Ryan and [Senator] Marco Rubio from falsely claiming that they’re a ransom. . At the same press conference, Earnest stated So it sounds to me like [Ryan and Rubio] are once again in a position where they’re making the same argument as hardliners in Iran in an effort to undermine the Iran nuclear agreement.
The President made clear a year ago that right-wingers in the United States were making common cause with right-wingers in the Iranian government. And, again, if they’re doing it again to try to justify their opposition to an agreement that has benefitted the American people, they can do that, but I think that’s going to be pretty hard for them to explain. Maybe there’s another letter from Senator Cotton to the Supreme Leader we don't know about. . On August 4, 2016, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner stated The idea that this was all orchestrated as part of some kind of quid pro quo is just not accurate … I recognize, I can see, the optics of this and that people would draw assumptions.
People do. We can’t keep them from doing so, but it’s just not true that there’s any linkage. . On August 18, 2016, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby, in response to a question on whether the United States Government would not give Iran the $400,000,000 in cash until the United States citizens were released stated that’s correct . On June 24, 2015, President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Policy Directive on Hostage Recovery Activities (referred to as PPD 30 ), which states:
The United States will use every appropriate resource to gain the safe return of U.S. nationals who are held hostage. But the United States Government will make no concessions to individuals or groups holding U.S. nationals hostage. It is United States policy to deny hostage-takers the benefits of ransom, prisoner releases, policy changes, or other acts of concession. This policy protects U.S. nationals and strengthens national security by removing a key incentive for hostage-takers to target U.S. nationals, thereby interrupting the vicious cycle of hostage-takings, and by helping to deny terrorists and other malicious actors the money, personnel, and other resources they need to conduct attacks against the United States, its nationals, and its interests. .
On January 27, 2014, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2133, which calls upon all Member States to prevent terrorists from benefiting directly or indirectly from ransom payments or from political considerations and to secure the safe release of hostages . On May 17, 2016, in a 6–2 decision, the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the Central Bank of Iran to invalidate section 502 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 ( 22 U.S.C. 8772 ), which makes Iran’s bonds frozen in a New York account available to enforce terrorism judgments.
As of August 8, 2016, Iran has illegally detained three dual Iranian-American citizens, Siamak Namazi, his father Baquer, and Reza Robin Shahini. Robert Levinson, a United States citizen, disappeared on March 9, 2007, after traveling to Kish Island, Iran, and is the longest held United States civilian in the history of the United States and Iran has not abided by the repeated pledges by and renewed commitment of officials of the Government of Iran to provide their Government’s assistance in the case of Robert Levinson.
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