Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States since 1984. Iran’s support for terrorism, development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and gross violations of human rights are a threat to the security interests of the United States and the rules-based international order. Iran has given ballistic missiles, conventional weapons, and technical support to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Taliban, Ansar Allah (commonly referred to as the Houthis ) in Yemen, Shia militias in Iraq, the Assad regime in Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which those proxies have used to implement terrorist attacks throughout the world that have killed citizens of the United States and its allies.
Iran continues to hold United States citizens hostage, including Bob Levinson, Baquer and Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, and Emad Shargi, while also serving as a safe harbor for senior leaders of al Qaeda such as Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (commonly referred to as the JCPOA ), which was finalized by President Barack Obama and the respective governments of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the People’s Republic of China, and the Russian Federation (commonly referred to as the P5+1 ) on July 14, 2015, permitted Iran to continue uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent levels and possess more 6,000 IR–1 centrifuges, thereby failing to eliminate Iran’s pathway to a nuclear weapon.
The JCPOA contained sunset provisions that allow Iran to increase its number of IR–1 centrifuges and resume operation of IR–2 centrifuges after 10 years, and exceed the 3.67 percent uranium enrichment threshold after 15 years. The verification and compliance mechanisms of the JCPOA were insufficient to ensure and enforce compliance, allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency only limited access to select facilities and establishing a protracted process to request access to sites suspected of hosting activity inconsistent with Iran’s obligations under the JCPOA.
Iran repeatedly violated numerous provisions of the JCPOA by maintaining more advanced centrifuges than was permitted, exceeding the limits on heavy water stocks, and refusing to grant international inspectors access to nuclear research and military facilities, among other violations. A central strategic flaw of the JCPOA was its exclusive focus on Iran’s nuclear program apart from its support for terrorism, which was bolstered by the more than $100,000,000,000 in sanctions relief it received under the deal.
The JCPOA contained no provisions addressing Iran’s development of ballistic and cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The JCPOA failed to address the human rights record of the Iranian regime, including the regime’s suppression of free speech, a free press, peaceful assembly, and the free exercise of religion. Iran is one of the world’s worst human rights violators, having received a 16 out of 100 Global Freedom Score and a 15 out of 100 Internet Freedom Score from Freedom House, and has been designated as a country of particular concern for religious freedom under section 402(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ( 22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(ii) ) for its suppression of religious freedom since 1999.
On May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the JCPOA and resumed the application of sanctions against Iranian actors, thereby depriving the regime of revenue to support terrorism. On May 21, 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump administration would apply unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime and laid out 12 steps that Iran must take to receive sanctions relief and reestablish normal relations with the United States, including— providing the International Atomic Energy Agency a full account of the prior military dimensions of its nuclear program and permanently and verifiably abandoning such work in perpetuity; stopping enrichment of plutonium reprocessing and committing to refrain from resuming such work; permitting the International Atomic Energy Agency to access all sites throughout the entire country; ending its proliferation of ballistic missiles and ceasing further development of such systems; releasing all United States citizens, as well as citizens of United States partners and allies, who are currently detained; discontinuing its support for terrorist groups in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; respecting the sovereignty of Iraq by ending its support for Shia militias; ending its military support for the Ansar Allah in Yemen; withdrawing all forces under Iranian command from the entirety of Syria; ending support for the Taliban in Afghanistan and for senior al Qaeda leaders around the region; ending the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp’s support for terrorist groups and proxies worldwide; and ceasing its threatening behavior against its neighbors, many of which are allies of the United States.
The financial sector of Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, is designated as a primary money laundering concern under section 5318A of title 31, United States Code, because of the threat to government and financial institutions resulting from the illicit activities of the Government of Iran, including its pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for international terrorism, and efforts to deceive responsible financial institutions and evade sanctions. On April 22, 2019, President Trump announced that the United States would no longer issue exemptions under section 1245(d)(4)(D) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 ( 22 U.S.C. 8513a(d)(4)(D) ), inhibiting the ability of countries to purchase Iranian petroleum products or conduct transactions with the Central Bank of Iran as a result of the exposure to sanctions.
Following the decision to discontinue issuance of those exemptions, Iran’s average daily sales of crude oil declined from an estimated 2,400,000 barrels per day in May 2018 to an estimated 1,300,000 in 2020. The decline in revenue and decrease in exports have reportedly forced the Iranian energy sector to cut the number of newly drilled oil wells from 300 in 2018 to 11 in 2020. Iran has reportedly stockpiled 60,000,000 barrels of crude oil and is preparing to return to production levels of nearly 4,000,000 barrels a day should sanctions relief be provided.
On December 31, 2019, 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 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Following United States withdrawal from the JCPOA, the value of Iran’s currency reached historical lows, with the rial losing around 70 percent of its value.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran’s accessible foreign exchange reserves decreased by more 96 percent to $4,000,000,000 in 2020 from $123,000,000,000 in 2018, depleting the revenue stream for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah, and Iranian-backed militias. During the maximum pressure campaign, the United States was able to secure the release of 2 hostages in Iran, Xiyue Wang and Michael White, without lifting sanctions or transferring cash to Iran.
President Joe Biden has reportedly offered to lift sanctions, including sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, if the Government of Iran agrees to return to the JCPOA.
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