Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73
§8513 Mandatory sanctions with respect to financial institutions that engage in certain transactions
Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 92— - COMPREHENSIVE IRAN SANCTIONS, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND DIVESTMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - SANCTIONS › § 8513
Summary
The Secretary of the Treasury must write rules, within 90 days after July 1, 2010, to stop or tightly limit U.S. correspondent or payable-through accounts for foreign banks that knowingly help Iran with certain bad activities. Those activities include helping Iran get or deliver weapons of mass destruction, supporting groups or people designated as terrorists or sanctioned by the U.N., laundering money for those purposes, helping the Central Bank of Iran or other Iranian banks do those things, or doing major transactions or financial services for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps or people whose property is blocked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The law also requires the Secretary to decide, within 45 days after August 10, 2012, whether the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) or the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) are agents or affiliates of the Revolutionary Guard, and it sets special rules and exceptions for petroleum purchases tied to Presidential findings in section 8513a(d)(4)(B) and the exception in section 8513a(d)(4)(D). U.S. banks must not let companies they own or control do business with blocked Revolutionary Guard entities, and must use audits, reports, certifications, and due-diligence controls for foreign banks that use U.S. correspondent accounts. Violations carry penalties under IEEPA (see subsections (b) and (c) of section 206, 50 U.S.C. 1705) and penalties under 31 U.S.C. sections 5321(a) and 5322 where stated. The Treasury may waive a rule for national security after 30 days and a report to Congress. Classified material can be shown to a court in secret (ex parte and in camera). The Treasury must consult with the Secretary of State and may define key terms further. Key defined terms: account types per 31 U.S.C. 5318A; “agent” as an entity set up to hide someone’s identity; “financial institution” per 31 U.S.C. 5312(a)(2); “foreign” and “domestic” banks as the Treasury decides; “money laundering” means moving illegal money.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §8513
Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Congress makes the following findings:
(1)The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to develop and promote national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
(2)Thirty-three countries, plus the European Commission and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, belong to the Financial Action Task Force. The member countries of the Financial Action Task Force include the United States, Canada, most countries in western Europe, Russia, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil.
(3)In 2008 the Financial Action Task Force extended its mandate to include addressing “new and emerging threats such as proliferation financing”, meaning the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and published “guidance papers” for members to assist them in implementing various United Nations Security Council resolutions dealing with weapons of mass destruction, including United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 (2006) and 1803 (2008), which deal specifically with proliferation by Iran.
(4)The Financial Action Task Force has repeatedly called on members—
(A)to advise financial institutions in their jurisdictions to give special attention to business relationships and transactions with Iran, including Iranian companies and financial institutions;
(B)to apply effective countermeasures to protect their financial sectors from risks relating to money laundering and financing of terrorism that emanate from Iran;
(C)to protect against correspondent relationships being used by Iran and Iranian companies and financial institutions to bypass or evade countermeasures and risk-mitigation practices; and
(D)to take into account risks relating to money laundering and financing of terrorism when considering requests by Iranian financial institutions to open branches and subsidiaries in their jurisdictions.
(5)At a February 2010 meeting of the Financial Action Task Force, the Task Force called on members to apply countermeasures “to protect the international financial system from the ongoing and substantial money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks” emanating from Iran.
(b)Congress—
(1)acknowledges the efforts of the United Nations Security Council to impose limitations on transactions involving Iranian financial institutions, including the Central Bank of Iran; and
(2)urges the President, in the strongest terms, to consider immediately using the authority of the President to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran and any other Iranian financial institution engaged in proliferation activities or support of terrorist groups.
(c)(1)Not later than 90 days after July 1, 2010, the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations to prohibit, or impose strict conditions on, the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that the Secretary finds knowingly engages in an activity described in paragraph (2).
(2)A foreign financial institution engages in an activity described in this paragraph if the foreign financial institution—
(A)facilitates the efforts of the Government of Iran (including efforts of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps or any of its agents or affiliates)—
(i)to acquire or develop weapons of mass destruction or delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction; or
(ii)to provide support for organizations designated as foreign terrorist organizations under section 1189(a) of title 8 or support for acts of international terrorism (as defined in section 14 of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note));
(B)facilitates the activities of—
(i)a person subject to financial sanctions pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), or 1929 (2010), or any other resolution that is agreed to by the Security Council and imposes sanctions with respect to Iran; or
(ii)a person acting on behalf of or at the direction of, or owned or controlled by, a person described in clause (i);
(C)engages in money laundering to carry out an activity described in subparagraph (A) or (B);
(D)facilitates efforts by the Central Bank of Iran or any other Iranian financial institution to carry out an activity described in subparagraph (A) or (B); or
(E)facilitates a significant transaction or transactions or provides significant financial services for—
(i)Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps or any of its agents or affiliates whose property or interests in property are blocked pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or
(ii)a person whose property or interests in property are blocked pursuant to that Act in connection with—
(I)Iran’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction; or
(II)Iran’s support for international terrorism.
(3)The penalties provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations prescribed under paragraph (1) of this subsection to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act.
(4)(A)For purposes of paragraph (2)(E), the Secretary of the Treasury shall, not later than 45 days after August 10, 2012—
(i)determine whether the NIOC or the NITC is an agent or affiliate of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps; and
(ii)submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the determinations made under clause (i), together with the reasons for those determinations.
(B)A report submitted under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.
(C)(i)Except as provided in clause (ii), if the Secretary of the Treasury determines that the NIOC or the NITC is a person described in clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (2)(E), the regulations prescribed under paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to a significant transaction or transactions or significant financial services knowingly facilitated or provided by a foreign financial institution for the NIOC or the NITC, as applicable, for the purchase of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran, only if a determination of the President under section 8513a(d)(4)(B) of this title that there is a sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products produced in countries other than Iran to permit purchasers of petroleum and petroleum products from Iran to reduce significantly their purchases from Iran is in effect at the time of the transaction or the provision of the service.
(ii)If the Secretary of the Treasury determines that the NIOC or the NITC is a person described in clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (2)(E), the regulations prescribed under paragraph (1) shall not apply to a significant transaction or transactions or significant financial services knowingly facilitated or provided by a foreign financial institution for the NIOC or the NITC, as applicable, for the purchase of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran if an exception under paragraph (4)(D) of section 8513a(d) of this title applies to the country with primary jurisdiction over the foreign financial institution at the time of the transaction or the provision of the service.
(iii)The exceptions in clauses (i) and (ii) shall not be construed to limit the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions pursuant to the regulations prescribed under paragraph (1) for an activity described in paragraph (2) to the extent the activity would meet the criteria described in that paragraph in the absence of the involvement of the NIOC or the NITC.
(D)In this paragraph:
(i)The term “NIOC” means the National Iranian Oil Company.
(ii)The term “NITC” means the National Iranian Tanker Company.
(d)(1)Not later than 90 days after July 1, 2010, the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations to prohibit any person owned or controlled by a domestic financial institution from knowingly engaging in a transaction or transactions with or benefitting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps or any of its agents or affiliates whose property or interests in property are blocked pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
(2)The penalties provided for in section 206(b) of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705(b)) shall apply to a domestic financial institution to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act if—
(A)a person owned or controlled by the domestic financial institution violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations prescribed under paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
(B)the domestic financial institution knew or should have known that the person violated, attempted to violate, conspired to violate, or caused a violation of such regulations.
(e)(1)The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations to require a domestic financial institution maintaining a correspondent account or payable-through account in the United States for a foreign financial institution to do one or more of the following:
(A)Perform an audit of activities described in subsection (c)(2) that may be carried out by the foreign financial institution.
(B)Report to the Department of the Treasury with respect to transactions or other financial services provided with respect to any such activity.
(C)Certify, to the best of the knowledge of the domestic financial institution, that the foreign financial institution is not knowingly engaging in any such activity.
(D)Establish due diligence policies, procedures, and controls, such as the due diligence policies, procedures, and controls described in section 5318(i) of title 31, reasonably designed to detect whether the Secretary of the Treasury has found the foreign financial institution to knowingly engage in any such activity.
(2)The penalties provided for in section 5321(a) and 5322 of title 31 shall apply to a person that violates a regulation prescribed under paragraph (1) of this subsection, in the same manner and to the same extent as such penalties would apply to any person that is otherwise subject to such section 5321(a) or 5322.
(f)The Secretary of the Treasury may waive the application of a prohibition or condition imposed with respect to a foreign financial institution pursuant to subsection (c) or section 8513b of this title or the imposition of a penalty under subsection (d) with respect to a domestic financial institution on and after the date that is 30 days after the Secretary—
(1)determines that such a waiver is necessary to the national interest of the United States; and
(2)submits to the appropriate congressional committees a report describing the reasons for the determination.
(g)(1)If a finding under paragraph (1) or (4) of subsection (c) or section 8513b of this title, a prohibition, condition, or penalty imposed as a result of any such finding, or a penalty imposed under subsection (d), is based on classified information (as defined in section 1(a) of the Classified Information Procedures Act (18 U.S.C. App.)) and a court reviews the finding or the imposition of the prohibition, condition, or penalty, the Secretary of the Treasury may submit such information to the court ex parte and in camera.
(2)Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to confer or imply any right to judicial review of any finding under paragraph (1) or (4) of subsection (c) or section 8513b of this title, any prohibition, condition, or penalty imposed as a result of any such finding, or any penalty imposed under subsection (d).
(h)In implementing this section and the regulations prescribed under this section, the Secretary of the Treasury—
(1)shall consult with the Secretary of State; and
(2)may, in the sole discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, consult with such other agencies and departments and such other interested parties as the Secretary considers appropriate.
(i)(1)In this section:
(A)The terms “account”, “correspondent account”, and “payable-through account” have the meanings given those terms in section 5318A of title 31.
(B)The term “agent” includes an entity established by a person for purposes of conducting transactions on behalf of the person in order to conceal the identity of the person.
(C)The term “financial institution” means a financial institution specified in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), (I), (J), (M), or (Z) of section 5312(a)(2) of title 31.
(D)The terms “foreign financial institution” and “domestic financial institution” shall have the meanings of those terms as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.
(E)The term “money laundering” means the movement of illicit cash or cash equivalent proceeds into, out of, or through a country, or into, out of, or through a financial institution.
(2)The Secretary of the Treasury may further define the terms used in this section in the regulations prescribed under this section.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Termination of SectionFor termination of section, see section 8551(a) of this title.
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, referred to in subsecs. (c)(2)(E) and (d)(1), is title II of Pub. L. 95–223, Dec. 28, 1977, 91 Stat. 1626, which is classified generally to chapter 35 (§ 1701 et seq.) of Title 50, War and National Defense. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 1701 of Title 50 and Tables. The Classified Information Procedures Act, referred to in subsec. (g)(1), is Pub. L. 96–456, Oct. 15, 1980, 94 Stat. 2025, which is set out in the Appendix to Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.
Amendments
2021—Subsec. (i)(1)(C). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “(Z)” for “(Y)”. 2012—Subsec. (c)(2)(B). Pub. L. 112–158, § 214(a), substituted “of—” for “of”, inserted cl. (i) designation before “a person subject”, and added cl. (ii). Subsec. (c)(2)(E)(ii). Pub. L. 112–158, § 215(a), substituted “person” for “financial institution” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (c)(4). Pub. L. 112–158, § 312(b), added par. (4). Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 112–158, § 312(c)(1), inserted “or section 8513b of this title” after “subsection (c)” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 112–158, § 312(c)(2), substituted “paragraph (1) or (4) of subsection (c) or section 8513b of this title” for “subsection (c)(1)” in pars. (1) and (2).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Regulations
Pub. L. 112–158, title II, § 214(b), Aug. 10, 2012, 126 Stat. 1231, provided that: “Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 10, 2012], the Secretary of the Treasury shall make such revisions to the
Regulations
prescribed under section 104 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513) as are necessary to carry out the
Amendments
made by subsection (a) [amending this section].” Pub. L. 112–158, title II, § 215(b), Aug. 10, 2012, 126 Stat. 1231, provided that: “Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 10, 2012], the Secretary of the Treasury shall make such revisions to the
Regulations
prescribed under section 104 of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (22 U.S.C. 8513) as are necessary to carry out the amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section].” Exception to Sanctions Regarding National Iranian Oil Company and National Iranian Tanker Company Pub. L. 112–158, title III, § 312(d), Aug. 10, 2012, 126 Stat. 1250, provided that: “(1) In general.—If an exception to sanctions described in clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (4)(C) of section 104(c) of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 [22 U.S.C. 8513(c)], as added by subsection (b), applies to a person that engages in a transaction described in paragraph (2) at the time of the transaction, the President is authorized not to impose sanctions with respect to the transaction under—“(A) section 302(b)(1) [22 U.S.C. 8742(b)(1)]; “(B) section 104A of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 [22 U.S.C. 8513b], as added by section 216; or “(C) any other applicable provision of law authorizing the imposition of sanctions with respect to Iran. “(2) Transaction described.—A transaction described in this paragraph is a transaction—“(A) solely for the purchase of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran; and “(B) for which sanctions may be imposed solely as a result of the involvement of the National Iranian Oil Company or the National Iranian Tanker Company in the transaction under—“(i) section 302(b)(1); “(ii) section 104A of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, as added by section 216; or “(iii) any other applicable provision of law authorizing the imposition of sanctions with respect to Iran.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 8513
Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73