“The Congress finds the following:“(1) Iran is characterized by high levels of official and institutional corruption, and substantial involvement by Iran’s security forces, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the economy.
“(2) The Department of Treasury in 2019 designated the Islamic Republic of Iran’s financial sector as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern, concluding, ‘Iran has developed covert methods for accessing the international financial system and pursuing its malign activities, including misusing banks and exchange houses, operating procurement networks that utilize front or shell companies, exploiting commercial shipping, and masking illicit transactions using senior officials, including those at the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).’.
“(3) In June 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) urged all jurisdictions to require increased supervisory examination for branches and subsidiaries of financial institutions based in Iran. The FATF later called upon its members to introduce enhanced relevant reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions, and require increased external audit requirements, for financial groups with respect to any of their branches and subsidiaries located in Iran.
“(4) According to the State Department’s ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’ in 2021, ‘Iran continued to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism, facilitating a wide range of terrorist and other illicit activities around the world. Regionally, Iran supported acts of terrorism in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen through proxies and partner groups such as Hizballah and Hamas.’.
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