[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 420 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 420

To require the President to report on the use by the Government of Iran 
  of commercial aircraft and related services for illicit military or 
               other activities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 16, 2017

    Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Sasse, and Mr. Perdue) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the President to report on the use by the Government of Iran 
  of commercial aircraft and related services for illicit military or 
               other activities, 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 ``Iran Terror-Free Skies Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Iran is designated as the world's foremost state 
        sponsor of terrorism and a direct threat to the national 
        security of the United States and United States allies.
            (2) Iran, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (in 
        this section referred to as the ``IRGC''), provides material 
        and financial support to foreign terrorist organizations, 
        including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Kata'ib Hezbollah, as well as 
        to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which is responsible 
        for more than 400,000 civilian deaths.
            (3) Iran has systematically employed its national air 
        carrier, Iran Air, as well as numerous private and publicly 
        owned Iranian and Syrian air carriers, including Mahan Air, to 
        ferry weapons, troops, and military equipment on behalf of the 
        IRGC and Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics 
        (in this section referred to as ``MODAFL'') to foreign 
        terrorist organizations and rogue regimes around the world.
            (4) On June 23, 2011, the United States Department of the 
        Treasury designated Iran Air for the imposition of sanctions 
        pursuant to Executive Order 13382 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; 
        relating to blocking property of weapons of mass destruction 
        delivery system proliferators and their supporters) for 
        providing material support and services to the IRGC, including 
        shipping military-related equipment on behalf of the IRGC since 
        2006 and transporting rockets or missiles to Syria.
            (5) On January 16, 2016, Iran Air was removed from the list 
        of specially designated nationals and blocked persons by the 
        Department of the Treasury even though Iran Air had not ceased 
        its illicit and sanctionable activity.
            (6) Iran Air remains owned and operated by the Government 
        of Iran and has, since January 16, 2016, flown numerous 
        unscheduled flights on well-known weapons supply routes between 
        Iran and Syria.
            (7) In correspondence with Members of Congress, the 
        Secretary of the Treasury has refused to confirm that Iran Air 
        has ceased its illicit activity. In a November 23, 2016, letter 
        to Representative Peter Roskam, Thomas Patrick Maloney, Senior 
        Advisor in the Office of Legislative Affairs of the Department 
        of the Treasury wrote: ``The United States retains the ability 
        to designate any individual or entity that engages in 
        sanctionable activities under our authorities targeting conduct 
        outside the scope of the JCPOA, including Iran's support for 
        terrorism, human rights abuses, ballistic missile program, and 
        other destabilizing activities in the region.''.
            (8) Evidence supports that, despite being removed from the 
        list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons on 
        January 16, 2016, Iran Air has continued its illicit and 
        sanctionable activity in support of the IRGC, MODAFL, 
        Hezbollah, and the Bashar al-Assad regime since January 16, 
        2016.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON USE BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN OF COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT 
              AND RELATED SERVICES FOR ILLICIT MILITARY OR OTHER 
              ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter, the President, in 
consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and 
the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report on use by the Government of Iran of 
commercial aircraft and related services for illicit military or other 
activities during--
            (1) in the case of the first report, the 5-year period 
        preceding submission of the report; and
            (2) in the case of any subsequent report, the 180-day 
        period preceding submission of the report.
    (b) Elements of Report.--The report required under subsection (a) 
shall include a description of the extent to which--
            (1) the Government of Iran has used commercial aircraft, 
        including aircraft of Iran Air, or related services to 
        transport illicit cargo to or from Iran, including military 
        goods, weapons, military personnel, military-related electronic 
        parts and mechanical equipment, or rocket or missile 
        components;
            (2) the commercial aviation sector of Iran, including Iran 
        Air, has provided financial, material, or technological support 
        to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's Ministry of 
        Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, the regime of Bashar al-
        Assad in Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Kata'ib Hezbollah, any other 
        organization designated as a foreign terrorist organization 
        under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1189), or any person on the list of specially designated 
        nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of 
        Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury; and
            (3) foreign governments and persons have facilitated the 
        activities described in paragraph (1), including allowing the 
        use of airports, services, or other resources.
    (c) Effect of Determination.--If, in a report submitted under this 
section, the President determines that Iran Air or any other Iranian 
commercial air carrier has used commercial aircraft for illicit 
military purposes on or after January 16, 2016, the President shall, 
not later than 90 days after making that determination, include the air 
carrier on the list of specially designated nationals and blocked 
persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the 
Department of the Treasury.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of 
        the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Select Committee on 
        Intelligence of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 4. SUNSET.

    This Act shall cease to be effective on the date that is 30 days 
after the date on which the President certifies to Congress that the 
Government of Iran has ceased providing support for acts of 
international terrorism.
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