Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73

§9406 Enforcement of arms embargos

Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 101— - COUNTERING IRAN’S DESTABILIZING ACTIVITIES › § 9406

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President must punish people he finds knowingly helping Iran get, sell, move, make, maintain, or use major weapons (like tanks, armored vehicles, large artillery, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles, and related parts) or giving Iran training, money, advice, services, or other help tied to those weapons. The punishments include blocking any of their property and transactions that are in or touch the United States under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and denying visas or entry to foreign persons. Violating the blocking rules brings the civil and criminal penalties provided by that same Act. The President can skip these sanctions only if he certifies to Congress that allowing the activity is in the U.S. national security interest, Iran no longer poses a significant threat to the U.S. or its allies, and Iran has stopped supporting international terrorism and is no longer a designated state sponsor of terrorism. "State sponsor of terrorism" means a country the Secretary of State has formally found to repeatedly support international terrorism.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §9406

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as provided in subsection (d), the President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to any person that the President determines—
(1)knowingly engages in any activity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer directly or indirectly to or from Iran, or for the use in or benefit of Iran, of any battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems, as defined for the purpose of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, or related materiel, including spare parts; or
(2)knowingly provides to Iran any technical training, financial resources or services, advice, other services or assistance related to the supply, sale, transfer, manufacture, maintenance, or use of arms and related materiel described in paragraph (1).
(b)(1)The President shall block, in accordance with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), all transactions in all property and interests in property of any person subject to subsection (a) if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.
(2)The Secretary of State shall deny a visa to, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall exclude from the United States, any person subject to subsection (a) that is an alien.
(c)A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of subsection (b)(1) or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out that subsection shall be subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section.
(d)The President is not required to impose sanctions under subsection (a) with respect to a person for engaging in an activity described in that subsection if the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that—
(1)permitting the activity is in the national security interest of the United States;
(2)Iran no longer presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States and to the allies of the United States; and
(3)the Government of Iran has ceased providing operational or financial support for acts of international terrorism and no longer satisfies the requirements for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(e)In this section, the term “state sponsor of terrorism” means a country the government of which the Secretary of State has determined to be a government that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism for purposes of—
(1)section 4605(j)(1)(A) 11 See References in Text note below. of title 50 (as continued in effect pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.));
(2)section 2371(a) of this title;
(3)section 2780(d) of this title; or
(4)any other provision of law.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, referred to in subsecs. (b)(1) and (e)(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. section 4605(j)(1)(A) of title 50, referred to in subsec. (e)(1), was repealed by Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVII, § 1766(a), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2232.

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions For delegation of functions of President under this section, see Memorandum of President of the United States, Oct. 11, 2017, 82 F.R. 50051, set out as a note under section 9403 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 9406

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73