Press Releases

Today, Rep. Jim Banks (IN-03) and lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate sent a letter to President Joe Biden regarding his administration’s failure to enforce the Mahsa Amini Human Rights and Security Accountability (MAHSA) and Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Acts. The MAHSA Act directs the president to issue an assessment of potential sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran and other senior Iranian officials by July 23, 2024 and to then impose sanctions on those officials. The Biden administration missed the July 23, 2024 deadline.

Rep. Banks first introduced the MAHSA Act during the 117th Congress after the tragic murder of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s “Morality Police.” Congress passed the bill in April 2024, forcing President Biden to sign it into law.

• “We urge you to follow the law and promptly make sanctions determinations, impose appropriate sanctions, and report to Congress what determinations have been made and which sanctions have been imposed. No amount of appeasement to the Iranian regime will quell its unacceptable conduct. Only by exerting maximum pressure on members of the Iranian regime and connected individuals can we hope to stem this behavior.” 

Joining the letter were Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jim Risch (R-ID), as well as U.S. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY)

The full text of the letter is below. 

Dear Mr. President: 

As the key sponsors and supporters of the Mahsa Amini Human Rights and Security Accountability (MAHSA) and Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Acts, both of which were signed into law (Public Law 118-50), we write to urge your administration to swiftly implement these provisions. The regime in Tehran has long channeled the proceeds from its petroleum industry to fund its ongoing repression of the Iranian people and to fund a campaign of terrorism against the United States, Israel, and other allies and partners in the Middle East. We are concerned by the fact that your administration has failed to submit its plan on implementing these sanctions by the deadlines stipulated by law. 

The MAHSA Act requires you to determine, by July 23, 2024, whether the Supreme Leader and President of Iran, as well as any related entity or individual, meet the criteria for imposing sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, and other laws. The SHIP Act requires the U.S. Department of State, by August 22, 2024, to develop a strategy to counter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) evasion of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil. To date, we have not received any indication that your administration has followed through on these requirements. 

We urge you to immediately follow through on your legal commitments. While your administration dithers, Iran’s assault on freedom and human rights in the Middle East continues unabated. In late August, media reports indicated that Iranian exports to the PRC have reached a six-year high at more than 1.75 million barrels of oil a day. This figure is nearly 50 percent higher than it was in July 2024, bringing in approximately $4 billion in revenue for the regime in August alone. In the month after the election of the supposedly “moderate” Masoud Pezeshkian as President, Iranian authorities executed 87 people. This continues the regime’s draconian response to “Women, Life, Freedom” protests sparked by the execution of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by Iran’s morality police. Moreover, as stated by your own Department of Justice, “Iran utilizes the proceeds of its black-market oil sales to fund its criminal activities, including its support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas, Hizballah, and other Iranian aligned terrorist groups.” Hamas’ recent execution of Israeli and American hostages, Hizballah’s attempted rocket attack on Israeli civilian population centers, and Iran-aligned militias’ attacks on American service members in Iraq have all been enabled by your administration’s failure to close off the sources of financing that underpin all of Iran’s terrorist activities. 

We urge you to follow the law and promptly make sanctions determinations, impose appropriate sanctions, and report to Congress what determinations have been made and which sanctions have been imposed. No amount of appeasement to the Iranian regime will quell its unacceptable conduct. Only by exerting maximum pressure on members of the Iranian regime and connected individuals can we hope to stem this behavior.

Sincerely,