Last Wednesday, with my support, the House passed H.R. 1638, the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act.
Iran has a history of allowing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to serve as a quasi-independent organization within the state’s financial structure. In May 2005, Supreme Leader Khamenei forced the government to privatize large sectors of the Iranian economy. This proved to be a faux liberalization as the IRGC received significant portions of the privatized transfers; rather than true privatization, Khamenei procured a process of wealth transfer from the state to a quasi-state organization. The IRGC now has control of major sectors of the Iranian economy and access to significant wealth to further their nefarious ends.
As the West lifts sanctions on Iran’s economy, the IRGC is setting up businesses throughout Iran, allowing it to expand its economic and political capital. The IRGC has three main goals: create revenue to finance its military operations, establish a network of private sector ventures that can aid the Iranian regime’s procurement effort for advanced weaponry and sensitive technology, and position itself as an economic force in Iran that will translate to political power.
This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to provide a report to help further efforts to prevent the financing of terrorism, money laundering, or related illicit finance and to help clarify for financial institutions and legitimate businesses ways they can comply with remaining sanctions, to prevent the IRGC controlled economy from producing greater wealth to be used to finance international terrorism and their nuclear ambitions.
Congressman Daniel Webster represents The Villages in the U.S. House of Representatives.
