[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 854 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 854
To direct the Secretary of State to designate Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force as a foreign terrorist
organization, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 27, 2013
Mr. McCaul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of State to designate Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force as a foreign terrorist
organization, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Qods Force Terrorist Designation
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) On January 19, 1984, the Secretary of State determined
that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a state sponsor of
terrorism.
(2) The Qods Force is the elite external operations branch
of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian
regime's primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting
terrorists abroad.
(3) The Qods Force provides aid in the form of weapons,
training, and funding to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist
groups, Lebanese Hizballah, Iraq-based militants, and Taliban
fighters in Afghanistan.
(4) The Qods Force is behind some of the deadliest
terrorist attacks of the past three decades, including the 1983
and 1984 bombings of the United States Embassy and annex in
Beirut, the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the
1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, 1994
attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, and
the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.
(5) In 2007, President George W. Bush and General David
Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, accused Iran's Qods
Force of aiding militias in killing American soldiers in Iraq.
(6) In 2007, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated
the Qods Force for providing material support to the Taliban
and other terrorist organizations.
(7) On October 25, 2007, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps Qods Force was sanctioned under Executive Order 13382,
for supporting proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
(8) Section 1258 of the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2008 expressed the sense of Congress that ``the
United States should designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section
219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189) and
place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of
Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701
et seq.) and initiated under Executive Order 13224 (September
23, 2001)''.
(9) In the period following the June 2009 presidential
election in Iran, the Qods Force was implicated in custodial
deaths and the killings of election protesters and committed
other acts of politically motivated violence, including
torture, beatings, and rape.
(10) On April 29, 2011, President Obama issued Executive
Order 13572, Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect
to Human Rights Abuses in Syria, including the Qods Force, for
the repression of the people of Syria, manifested most recently
by the use of violence and torture against, and arbitrary
arrests and detentions of, peaceful protestors by police,
security forces, and other entities that have engaged in human
rights abuses, which constitute an unusual and extraordinary
threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of
the United States.
(11) On October 11, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice
announced that two members of Iran's Qods Force were charged in
an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to
the Unites States. The criminal complaint against them included
charges of conspiracy to murder a foreign official; conspiracy
to engage in foreign travel and use of interstate and foreign
commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire;
conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives);
and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism
transcending national boundaries.
(12) On March 7, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury
designated Iran's Qods Force General Gholamreza Baghbani as a
Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker for the role that the
Qods Force played in its scheme to support terrorism.
(13) Iran's Qods Force stations operatives in foreign
embassies, charities, and religious and cultural institutions
to foster relationships, often building on existing socio-
economic ties with the well-established Shia Diaspora, and
recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin
America.
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF IRAN'S ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS QODS
FORCE AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.
The Secretary of State shall designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps Qods Force as a foreign terrorist organization under
section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189).
SEC. 4. REPORT.
The Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate a report on terrorist activities of Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force.
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