In her letter to the administration, Sinema invokes recently-passed law that requires sanctions to foreign persons that knowingly engage in the petroleum trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema was joined by a bipartisan coalition of U.S. Senators urging the administration to address the delayed implementation of reporting deadlines and enforcement required to ensure Iran does not benefit financially from the petroleum trade.
“For decades, there has been evidence that Iran has funded direct attacks on America and our allies. Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Iran has only become more emboldened to act against democratic interests across the globe. To cite just two recent events, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in its August 2024 report that Iran continues to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium, and on September 10, 2024, the Pentagon confirmed reports that Iran has transferred shipments of Fath 360 close-range ballistic missiles to Russia to support their continued aggression against Ukraine. Iran is able to further these disrupting activities due to profits from their oil trade,” wrote Sinema.
On April 23, 2024, Congress passed H.R. 815, an emergency supplemental appropriation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, that was signed into law by President Biden on April 24 and included legislation to strengthen U.S. national security, including the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act and the Fight and Combat Rampant Iranian Missile Exports (Fight CRIME) Act.
The SHIP Act includes important provisions to sanction foreign persons that knowingly engage in the petroleum trade with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Fight CRIME Act restricts certain missile-related activities and transfers by Iran. The bills include a number of reporting deadlines and enforcement requirements from the administration in order for Congress to track efforts to deny Iran the resources and ability to engage in destabilizing activities, commit human rights violations, support international terrorism, and fund weapons development.
In her letter, Sinema highlighted both missed and upcoming deadlines and asked the administration to honor the October 11 deadlines and work to address the deadlines already missed in order to provide Congress with the relevant reports as quickly as possible.
Earlier this year, Sinema cosponsored the bipartisanIranian Sanctions Enforcement Act – legislation establishing a fund to cover expenses related to the seizure or forfeiture of property found in violation of sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran or a covered proxy of Iran, including Hamas, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran-sponsored militias in Iraq and Syria.
In April 2023, Sinema and a bipartisan group of colleagues, urged President Biden to enforce current Iranian sanctions and empower the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to seize Iranian oil shipments.
Following Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, Sinema introduced the bipartisan Revoke Iranian Funding Act which freezes $6 billion in Iranian assets held in Qatar. Sinema’s bipartisan legislation prevents the Iranian regime – one of Hamas’s largest supporters –from accessing and using the funds currently held in Qatar to finance terrorist attacks against Israel or any other nation. The bill also directs the U.S. Treasury Secretary to study all high-value Iranian assets around the world currently blocked by U.S. sanctions and report these findings to Congress.
Click HERE to read the full letter.