A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pressing the Biden-Harris administration to investigate, prosecute, and sanction any anti-Israel group that took cash from Tehran as part of Iran's U.S. influence operation. Such funding, the lawmakers note, "almost certainly violates the U.S. anti-terrorism statutes."
The 22 lawmakers, led by Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), say they are frustrated by the administration’s failure to adequately brief Congress about Iran’s ongoing foreign influence campaign in America, which includes financial support for anti-Israel protests across the country. U.S. intelligence officials disclosed the operation’s existence last month but have not detailed the full extent of Tehran's activities in America, including which groups Iran is working with.
The Biden-Harris administration "has a duty to inform the public and to warn all protesters involved with these groups that they are acting at the behest of a terrorist state," the lawmakers wrote in a Thursday letter to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Attorney General Merrick Garland. It also has a duty to sanction and prosecute groups that took Tehran cash in violation of U.S. anti-terrorism laws, according to the lawmakers.
"Director Haines' statement earlier this month confirming that the Iranian regime, a state sponsor of terrorism (SSOT), provided financial support to pro-Palestinian protests in the United States suggests that these groups may be in violation of U.S. law," wrote the group of House members, which also included Florida Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D.) and Mike Waltz (R.).
"It is illegal for any bank or individual to conduct financial transactions with SSOTs. Any U.S. person that engages in a financial transaction with an SSOT despite ‘knowing or having reasonable cause to know’ that a country is an SSOT faces up to ten years in prison."
The lawmakers are leaning on the Treasury Department and DNI’s office to publicly disclose "all available information" about Iran’s "funding of these pro-Hamas organizations so that the American people can see who these groups truly are."
Once these networks are identified, federal authorities should immediately "investigate and impose monetary penalties on any U.S. persons involved in these transactions and to sanction those individuals and entities that provided this funding." The Justice Department should then "criminally prosecute and pursue civil forfeiture actions against any individual or entity that violates the law by receiving funding from the Iranian regime," including any U.S.-based advocacy organization known to have worked with Tehran.
The letter comes as lawmakers from both parties scramble to unearth further information about Iran’s influence operations in America, which also include efforts to undermine former president Donald Trump’s campaign and sway the outcome of the 2024 election.
Congress is already probing at least 20 nonprofit groups responsible for bankrolling and supporting anti-Israel protests on college campuses, suspecting they could be tied to terrorism financing. This includes American Muslims for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The lawmakers are giving federal authorities until the end of the month to produce detailed information about "specific individuals and entities [that] have received financial assistance, directly or indirectly, from the Government of Iran," as well as its affiliates.
The Treasury Department must also provide internal "suspicious activity reports" that could shine light on Tehran’s financial channels in America.
"The Biden administration admitted that some of the same groups behind the pro-Hamas protesters who burned American flags outside the U.S. Capitol last week also took money from Iran," Banks said, referring to violent anti-Israel demonstrations last week in downtown Washington, D.C., during Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress.
"These organizations likely violated U.S. sanctions law and must be prosecuted. I am calling on the Biden administration to come clean and tell us which of these anti-American groups took illegal donations from the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran."