Message to the Congress on Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to the Conventional Arms Activities of Iran

To the Congress of the United States:

Pursuant to the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Public Law 115-44), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby report I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") that affirms that it remains the policy of the United States to counter Iran's malign influence in the Middle East, including transfers from Iran of destabilizing conventional weapons and acquisition of arms and related materiel by Iran. Transfers to and from Iran of arms or related materiel or military equipment represent a continuing threat to regional and international security. Iran benefits from engaging in the conventional arms trade by strengthening its relationships with other outlier regimes, lessening its international isolation, and deriving revenue that it uses to support terror groups and fund malign activities.

In light of these findings and in order to take additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 of March 15, 1995 (Prohibiting Certain Transactions with Respect to the Development of Iranian Petroleum Resources), the order blocks property and interests in property of persons determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

• To engage in any activity that materially contributes to the supply, sale, or transfer, directly or indirectly, to or from Iran, or for the use in or benefit of Iran, of arms or related materiel, including spare parts;

• To provide to Iran any technical training, financial resources or services, advice, other services, or assistance related to the supply, sale, transfer, manufacture, maintenance, or use of arms and related materiel described above;

• To have engaged, or attempted to engage, in any activity that materially contributes to, or poses a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of arms or related materiel or items intended for military end-uses or military end-users, including any efforts to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer, or use such items, by the Government of Iran (including persons owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of the Government of Iran) or paramilitary organizations financially or militarily supported by the Government of Iran;

• To have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order; or

• To be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order.

Under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), the order also suspends the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria above for the blocking of property and interests in property.

I am enclosing a copy of the order I have issued.

DONALD J. TRUMP

The White House,

September 21, 2020.