22 U.S.C. § 8803 — Imposition of sanctions with respect to the energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors of Iran

(a) Findings: Congress found (1) Iran's energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors, and Iran's ports, help fund the Iranian government's nuclear proliferation activities; (2) the United Nations Security Council and the U.S. government have expressed concern about the proliferation risks of Iran's nuclear program; (3) the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has, in successive reports, identified possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program; (4) the Iranian government keeps defying IAEA and UN Security Council requirements, including by continuing and expanding uranium enrichment in Iran; (5) UN Security Council Resolution 1929 (2010) recognizes the potential connection between Iran's energy-sector revenues and funding for its proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities; and (6) the National Iranian Tanker Company is the main carrier for the National Iranian Oil Company (designated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) and a key link in the oil supply chain that generates the energy revenue supporting Iran's illicit nuclear proliferation activities. (b) Designation of ports and entities in the energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors of Iran as entities of proliferation concern: Entities that operate ports in Iran, and entities in Iran's energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors — including the National Iranian Oil Company, the National Iranian Tanker Company, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and their affiliates — play an important role in Iran's nuclear proliferation efforts, and all such entities are designated as entities of proliferation concern. (c) Blocking of property of entities in energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors: (1) Blocking of property: (A) On and after the date 180 days after January 2, 2013, the President must block and prohibit all transactions in the property and property interests of anyone described in (2), if that property is in the United States, comes within the United States, or comes within the possession or control of a U.S. person. (B) This blocking requirement does not include authority to sanction the importation of goods. (2) Persons described: A person is described in this paragraph if the President determines that, on or after that 180-day date, the person (A) is part of Iran's energy, shipping, or shipbuilding sectors; (B) operates a port in Iran; or (C) knowingly provides significant financial, material, technological, or other support, or goods or services, on behalf of or for the benefit of (i) a person described in (A), (ii) a person described in (B), or (iii) an Iranian person on the Treasury's list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons (other than an Iranian financial institution described in (3)). (3) Iranian financial institutions described: An Iranian financial institution is described in this paragraph only if it has not been designated for sanctions in connection with (A) Iran's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their delivery systems, (B) Iran's support for international terrorism, or (C) Iran's abuses of human rights. (d) Additional sanctions with respect to the energy, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors of Iran: (1) Sale, supply, or transfer of certain goods and services: (A) Except as this section otherwise provides, the President must impose 5 or more of the sanctions described in section 6(a) of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 on a person the President determines knowingly sold, supplied, or transferred goods or services described in (3) to or from Iran, on or after the 180-day date. (B) This requirement does not include authority to sanction the importation of goods under paragraph (8)(A) or (12) of section 6(a) of that Act, and any import-related sanction does not count toward meeting this requirement. (2) Facilitation of certain transactions: Except as this section otherwise provides, the President must prohibit a foreign financial institution from opening — and must prohibit or impose strict conditions on it keeping — a correspondent account or payable-through account in the United States, if the President determines the institution knowingly conducted or facilitated a significant financial transaction, on or after the 180-day date, for selling, supplying, or transferring goods or services described in (3) to or from Iran. (3) Goods and services described: significant goods or services used with Iran's energy, shipping, or shipbuilding sectors, including the National Iranian Oil Company, the National Iranian Tanker Company, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. (e) Humanitarian exception: The President may not sanction someone under this section for conducting or facilitating a transaction to sell agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices to Iran, or for providing humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people. (f) Exception for Afghanistan reconstruction: The President may exempt reconstruction assistance or economic development for Afghanistan from this section's sanctions (1) to the extent the President determines that is in the national interest of the United States, and (2) if the President notifies Congress's appropriate committees, with justification, at least 15 days before issuing the exception. (g) Applicability of sanctions to petroleum and petroleum products: (1) Except as (2) provides, this section applies to buying petroleum or petroleum products from Iran only while a determination by the President under section 8513a(d)(4)(B) is in effect — that the price and supply of petroleum from countries other than Iran is enough to let buyers significantly cut their Iran purchases. (2)(A) Exportation: This section does not apply to exporting petroleum or petroleum products from Iran to a country covered, at that time, by the exception under section 8513a(d)(4)(D)(i). (B) Financial transactions: (i) This section does not apply to a financial transaction described in (ii), conducted or facilitated by a foreign financial institution, if that exception applies at the time to the country with primary jurisdiction over the institution. (ii) That covers a transaction that (I) is only for trade in goods or services not otherwise sanctioned under U.S. law, between that country and Iran, and (II) where any money owed to Iran from that trade is credited to an account in that same country. (h) Applicability of sanctions to natural gas: (1) Except as (2) provides, this section does not apply to selling, supplying, or transferring natural gas to or from Iran. (2) But it does apply to a foreign financial institution that conducts or facilitates such a natural-gas transaction, unless (A) the transaction is only for trade in goods or services not otherwise sanctioned under U.S. law, between the institution's home country and Iran, and (B) any money owed to Iran from that trade is credited to an account in that country. (i) Waiver: (1) The President may waive this section's sanctions for up to 180 days at a time, renewable for further periods of up to 180 days, if the President (A) determines the waiver is vital to U.S. national security, and (B) sends Congress's appropriate committees a report justifying it. (2) Each report must be submitted unclassified, though it may include a classified annex.