Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (R-AR) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) introduced the Iran SDR Exchange Prohibition Act, which prohibits any new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) going to Iran. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

 

“SDR allocations are a giveaway to rogue nations around the world, including the leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran.” said Rep. Hill. “I fear that Iran would turn to Beijing to exchange or pledge its SDRs to further finance their ring of terrorism. This bipartisan legislation makes it clear that the United States will play no part in making funds available to Iran.”

 

“Iran has amassed the equivalent of billions of U.S. dollars in International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) that can be exchanged with other nations for hard currency,” said Rep. Sherman. “We need to see significant reforms at the IMF so that nations like Iran that sponsor horrific acts of terrorism – like what we saw Hamas perpetrate in Israel on October 7th – are prevented from trading SDRs, without even having to disclose with which nations it trades. This legislation is an important first step toward that goal.”

 

“As Iran-backed Hamas terrorists attack one of our greatest allies in the Middle East, Israel, the United States cannot be in the business of allowing IMF to be a piggy bank to Iran, funding these attacks or any future ones," said Sen. Scott. "Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror. Its leaders chant, ‘Death to America’ and want to destroy Israel. Iran is behind the brutal terrorists that beheaded babies, raped and killed young women, burned people alive and are still holding Americans hostage. This legislation closes the door for Iran to receive U.S. support through the IMF, which has grossly acted as an open financial channel to Iran for too long. I am proud to join Senator Manchin, Congressman Hill and Congressman Sherman to lead this bipartisan, bicameral effort, and look forward to it becoming law.”

 

“We must hold Iran accountable for their sponsorship of Hamas and other terrorist organizations, and this includes doing everything we can to limit their ability to access international financial capital,” said Sen. Manchin. “Our bipartisan, bicameral legislation would prohibit the IMF from financing the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and further demonstrate our solidarity with Israel. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this critical bill and I will continue working to get it across the finish line and signed into law.”

 

 

SDRs allow countries to lay claim to dollars, euros, and other major currencies to use with no strings attached. The amount an IMF country gets from an SDR allocation is largely based on a country’s position in the world economy, meaning most of the money goes to wealthy countries and rogue regimes, and not the countries that need it most.

 

This bill prohibits the U.S. Department of the Treasury from exchanging Iranian SDRs and directs Treasury to advocate for other member countries to not engage in transactions with Iranian SDRs.