Senators Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) have introduced a bill that would empower the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arm of the Department of Homeland Security to enforce American oil sanctions against Iran.
The legislation follows reports that the Islamic Republic has increased its oil revenue by $80 billion since 2021. Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has historically offered financial support for terrorist organizations including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Ernst’s office told National Review that, on a recent Congressional delegation to Israel that the Senator led, the Israeli government informed her that Iran provides 93 percent of Hamas’s military budget.
“Right now, we are witnessing the chaos Iran-backed Hamas is inflicting on Israel and the world, funded by the IRGC’s illicit oil sales,” Ernst told NR.
The bill — titled the Iranian Sanctions Enforcement Act — would create a fund equipping HSI to enforce sanctions currently in effect that the Biden administration has rolled back. If the Act becomes law, it will authorize a one-time investment of $150 million in the fund, which would be paid back within ten years at a total adjusted for inflation.
Under current United States law, 75 percent of money from oil seizures is redirected to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terror Fund. The Act would require the remaining quarter to go toward the enforcement fund itself, which would be limited at $500 million. Any dollar over that ceiling would be used for the purpose of paying down the national debt.
If signed, the bill would also codify into law 2010’s Executive Order 13558, which created the Export Coordination Enforcement Center, ensuring no future president could dismantle the interagency project through an executive order of his or her own.
Blumenthal and Ernst have a history of partnership on the issue. In April, they led a bipartisan effort to compel the White House to enforce existing sanctions on Iranian oil, and in August, the two Senators wrote a letter urging that the president respond to the Islamic Republic’s threats against American oil companies — threats which halted the transfer of seized Iranian oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Instead of allowing Iran’s illegal actions to continue, I’m working to cut the red tape and equip HSI, and its proven record of enforcing sanctions, with the support and resources it needs to go after and stop Tehran,” Ernst told NR. “By removing this money from Iran’s hands, we can provide more support to victims of terrorism and pay down our national debt.”