Sec. 105. United States strategy to prevent hostile activities by Iran and disrupt and degrade Hizballah’s illicit networks in the Western Hemisphere
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Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a strategy to prevent hostile activities by Iran and disrupt and degrade Hizballah’s illicit networks in the Western Hemisphere that— identifies Department of State priorities, in coordination with other executive branch agencies, for defining United States policy to protect United States interests from Iranian and Hizballah threats in the Western Hemisphere; coordinates with other executive branch agencies to ensure that information-sharing, interdictions, arrests, investigations, indictments, sanctions, and designations related to Hizballah individuals or networks in the Western Hemisphere are integrated, coordinated, and publicly communicated by the United States in a manner that supports United States interests; describes Iranian and Hizballah activities in the Western Hemisphere, their relationships with transnational criminal organizations in the region, their use of the region’s commodities trade to engage in illicit activities, and their use of Latin American and Caribbean visas, including through Citizenship by Investment Programs to seek admittance into the United States, as well as a plan to address any security vulnerabilities to the United States; includes a review of all relevant United States sanctions that relate to Hizballah’s activities in Latin America and the Caribbean and an assessment of their use, effectiveness, and any capability gaps; includes a review of the use of the Department of State’s rewards program under section 36 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2708 ) to obtain information related to Latin America-based Hizballah operatives and illicit networks and an assessment of the effectiveness of this program for targeting Hizballah in the Western Hemisphere; includes a review of all relevant United States sanctions on financial institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean that engage in activities outlined by section 102 of Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 ( Public Law 114–102 ; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) and an assessment of the use of the authorities outlined, their effectiveness, and recommendations for improvement; describes Hizballah criminal support networks, including country facilitation, in the Western Hemisphere and outlines a United States approach to partners in the region to address those illicit networks and build country capacity to combat the transnational criminal activities of Hizballah; and includes a review of the actions of governments in the Western Hemisphere to identify, investigate, and prosecute Latin America-based Hizballah operatives, and enforce sanctions either personally or to their business interests of Latin America-based Hizballah operatives as well as recommendations for United States action towards governments who refuse to impose sanctions or who willingly facilitate Latin America-based Hizballah illicit activities.
The strategy required by subsection
(a)shall be submitted in unclassified form to the greatest extent possible but may include a classified annex. In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees means— the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate. Title I of the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 ( Public Law 114–102 ; 129 Stat. 2206; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note), as amended by section 103 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following: Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the President shall instruct— the Secretary of State to increase cooperation with countries in the Western Hemisphere to assist in strengthening the capacity of governments to prevent hostile activity by Iran and disrupt and degrade Hizballah’s illicit networks operating in the region, including diplomatic engagement that involves— efforts to target and expose illicit networks, arrest perpetrators, freeze assets, and attack Iran and Hizballah’s use of illicit networks using international trade and banking systems; efforts to revoke or deny visas from those implicated in Hizballah’s activity in the region, including lawyers, accountants, business partners, service providers, and politicians who knowingly facilitate or fail to take measures to counter Hizballah’s illicit finance in their own jurisdictions; efforts to assist willing nations with the development of counter-organized crime legislation, the strengthening of financial investigative capacity, and a fully-vetted counter-organized crime judicial model in places plagued with corruption; and efforts to persuade governments in the region to list Hizballah as a terrorist organization; the United States Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States to work to secure support at the Organization of American States for a resolution that would declare Hizballah as a terrorist organization and address Hizballah’s illicit networks operating in the region; the United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE)to work to secure a report on compliance by participating states with OSCE Decision Number 1063, the Consolidated Framework for the Fight Against Terrorism , in regard to Hizballah, with particular focus on the mandate to suppress the financing of terrorism, including its links with money-laundering and illegal economic activities , especially as it relates transatlantic relations, including with Latin America and the Caribbean; and United States diplomats to work with international forums, including the Financial Action Task Force, to identify government entities within Latin America and the Caribbean that provide support, facilitation, or assistance to individuals affiliated with Hizballah in the Western Hemisphere. . The table of contents for the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 is amended by inserting after the item related to section 103 the following new item: Sec. 104. Diplomatic initiatives. .
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- 129 Stat. 2206
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Sec. 105
United States strategy to prevent hostile activities by Iran and disrupt and degrade Hizballah’s illicit networks in the Western Hemisphere
Stat.129 Stat. 2206
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