Increasing the Effectiveness of Non-Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran
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INCREASING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NON-NUCLEAR SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MONETARY POLICY AND TRADE AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM AND ILLICIT FINANCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 4, 2017 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 115–14 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 28–175 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES JEB HENSARLING, Texas, Chairman PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina, MAXINE WATERS, California, Ranking Vice Chairman Member PETER T. KING, New York CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BILL POSEY, Florida MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin DAVID SCOTT, Georgia STEVE STIVERS, Ohio AL GREEN, Texas RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota ANN WAGNER, Missouri ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado ANDY BARR, Kentucky JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania BILL FOSTER, Illinois LUKE MESSER, Indiana DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona BRUCE POLIQUIN, Maine JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio MIA LOVE, Utah DENNY HECK, Washington FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JUAN VARGAS, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey LEE M. ZELDIN, New York VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan CHARLIE CRIST, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia THOMAS MacARTHUR, New Jersey WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio TED BUDD, North Carolina DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana KIRSTEN SUTTON MORK, Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI SUBCOMMITTEE ON MONETARY POLICY AND TRADE ANDY BARR, Kentucky, Chairman ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas, Vice Chairman GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin, Ranking Member FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan BILL FOSTER, Illinois ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina BRAD SHERMAN, California MIA LOVE, Utah AL GREEN, Texas FRENCH HILL, Arkansas DENNY HECK, Washington TOM EMMER, Minnesota DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia JUAN VARGAS, California WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio CHARLIE CRIST, Florida CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM AND ILLICIT FINANCE STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico Chairman ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina, Vice ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado, Ranking Chairman Member KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York LUKE MESSER, Indiana JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado BILL FOSTER, Illinois ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan BRUCE POLIQUIN, Maine JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland MIA LOVE, Utah KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JUAN VARGAS, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey LEE M. ZELDIN, New York RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts TED BUDD, North Carolina DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee (IV) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: April 4, 2017 ..................................................................................................... 1 Appendix: April 4, 2017 ..................................................................................................... 37 WITNESSES TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2017 Maloney, Suzanne, Deputy Director, Foreign Policy, and Senior Fellow, Cen- ter for Middle East Policy, the Brookings Institution ....................................... 9 McInnis, J. Matthew, Resident Fellow, the American Enterprise Institute ....... 7 Ottolenghi, Emanuele, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies 10 Taleblu, Behnam Ben, Senior Iran Analyst, Foundation for Defense of Democ- racies ..................................................................................................................... 5 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Maloney, Suzanne ............................................................................................ 38 McInnis, J. Matthew ........................................................................................ 46 Ottolenghi, Emanuele ...................................................................................... 52 Taleblu, Behnam Ben ....................................................................................... 81 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Hill, Hon. French: Written responses to questions for the record submitted to Behnam Ben Taleblu ........................................................................................................... 104 Perlmutter, Hon. Ed: Letter to FBI Director James B. Comey, Jr., Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions from Senators Sherrod Brown, Ben Cardin, and Dianne Feinstein, dated March 30, 2017 ................................................................................................................ 108 Washington Post article entitled, ‘‘Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel’’ ................... 110 (V) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI INCREASING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NON-NUCLEAR SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN Tuesday, April 4, 2017 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MONETARY POLICY AND TRADE, AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM AND ILLICIT FINANCE, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 2:39 p.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Andy Barr [chairman of the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade] and Hon. Stevan Pearce [chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Il- licit Finance] presiding. Members present from the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade: Representatives Barr, Williams, Pittenger, Huizenga, Love, Hill, Emmer, Mooney, Davidson, Tenney, Hollingsworth; Moore, Sherman, Foster, and Vargas. Members present from the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance: Representatives Pearce, Williams, Pittenger, Rothfus, Messer, Tipton, Poliquin, Love, Hill, Emmer, Zeldin, Davidson, Budd, Kustoff; Perlmutter, Maloney, Lynch, Foster, Delaney, Sinema, Vargas, and Gottheimer. Chairman BARR. The subcommittees will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittees at any time. Also, without objection, members of the full Financial Services Committee who are not members of the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade or the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Fi- nance may participate in today’s hearing. Today’s hearing is entitled, ‘‘Increasing the Effectiveness of Non- Nuclear Sanctions Against Iran.’’ I now recognize myself for 21⁄2 minutes to give an opening state- ment. As chairman of the Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee, it is a pleasure for me to join Chairman Pearce and my colleagues on the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee in holding this joint hearing. It is no secret that Washington has been deeply divided over how to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions both before and after imple- mentation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This hearing, however, is not about the JCPOA per se, and I am hopeful that we can find common ground in addressing Iran’s non- (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 18:38 Mar 16, 2018 Jkt 028175 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\28175.TXT TERI 2 nuclear activities, including terrorism, weapons procurements, and regional destabilization. Since the agreement’s implementation day in January of 2016, Iran has continued to sponsor Hezbollah and other militias in the region. Its support for the Assad regime alone, including the use of planes to airlift military supplies, has helped claim an estimated 400,000 lives. Last April, even President Obama suggested that the Iranians were violating the spirit of the deal by engaging in these activities. Rather than be deterred, Iran went on in October to sentence three Americans to long prison terms on bogus charges. In January of this year, the country tested a ballistic missile, in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231. And this very morning, just as Boeing was announcing new sales to Iran, we learned that dozens of Syrian civilians, including at least 11 chil- dren, were gassed in a chemical weapons attack. If Republicans and Democrats can agree that intensifying non- nuclear sanctions is key