The MAHSA Act, a bill that strengthens US sanctions against Iran’s rulers, will be going to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 14 months after it passed the House.
The Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) was first introduced to the US Congress in January 2023, four months after the start of nationwide protests in Iran. The bill was a response to the regime’s brutal crackdown of the uprising, and was named after the young woman whose killing by the police started it all.
Mahsa Amini was a 22-year old Kurdish-Iranian woman who was detained in Tehran for not covering her hair fully. She received severe head injuries in custody and died in hospital on September 16, 2022. Her namesake bill passed the US House a year after her death –almost unanimously, 410 to 3.
It requires the US government to impose applicable sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, his Office and his appointees, Iran’s president and a number of entities affiliated with the Khamenei. It also requires the President to report to Congress every year whether those officials should remain under existing sanctions, making it much harder for the current and future administrations to unilaterally lift the sanctions.
Despite widespread support among Iranian-American organizations, the bill was stalled at the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, where, at one point, Chairman Ben Cardin seemed to refuse to mark it up for a vote.
“It is evident that the mobilizing and organizing efforts of the Iranian-American diaspora have been instrumental in pushing for progress and advancing this legislation,” Sarah Raviani of the National Union for Democracy in Iran told Iran International. “Activists have worked tirelessly to influence U.S. policy towards Iran, and we are now witnessing the results of our hard work with the advancement of the MAHSA Act.”
Iranian-American activists have been pushing for this bill to become law ever since it was introduced to the US House of Representatives. But the legislative road was not as smooth as they wished, not least because the Senate is controlled by Democrats, who do not seem all that eager to take up the bill.
The National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), a community advocacy group told Iran International, "The advocacy for this legislation has been a phenomenal display of unity within the diaspora, resulting in massive bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate."
It’s been scheduled for a markup at the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee on April 16, but it’s unclear when it would be brought forward for a vote –something the activists and some lawmakers ultimately want –and would push for.
The Democratic Party’s stance on Iran, epitomized by the Biden administration’s reluctance to confront the regime in Tehran, has been widely and strongly criticized by activists and Republican lawmakers who advocate a tougher approach, especially after the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas.
The Biden administration this year allowed $16 billion of frozen funds to be released to the Iranian regime. It has also turned a blind eye on Iran’s export of sanctioned oil, in the hope that the gesture would help bring the regime to a nuclear compromise.
The MAHSA Act is a step in the opposite direction, as far as the Biden administration’s Iran policy is concerned. The White House seems to be mindful of any move that may aggravate the regime and draw the United States and Iran closer to direct confrontation.