US Senate Passes Intel Bill With Key Measures Targeting Iran

The US Senate has passed the Intelligence Authorization Act, annual legislation that authorizes funding and sets policy for the intelligence community, with key measures targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities and other threats to American national security.

The bill, which received bipartisan support, includes measures such as “prohibiting the intelligence community from contracting with Chinese military companies, improving the security of CIA installations, identifying the threat to America’s food security posed by communist China, and directing necessary resources towards defending our nation from threats posed by Iran,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The legislation is part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets defense policy and authorizes funding levels. Lawmakers in the Senate passed the NDAA on Wednesday after their counterparts in the House did so last week.

“I’m glad this bill passed both houses of Congress as part of the NDAA and I look forward to it being signed into law by the president,” Cotton said. 

Regarding intelligence, the bill includes measures aimed at suppressing Tehran’s ability to acquire a nuclear weapon. The legislation expands congressional oversight of Iran’s uranium enrichment program and any efforts toward weapons development. 

The bill also formally enshrines limits on the movement of Iranian diplomats on American soil, aligning them with existing limits already applied to diplomats from China, Russia, and North Korea. It also allocates additional resources to bolster US defenses against a range of Iranian threats, including proxy terrorist groups and potential assassination schemes against American citizens. The legislation further requires intelligence agencies with knowledge of Iranian lethal threats to report all information to the FBI and to the intended target. 

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, touted the bill’s bolstering of resources to intelligence agencies. 

“I thank my colleagues and am glad to see this bill pass once again on a strong bipartisan basis. It provides the intelligence community the resources it needs to do its mission while ensuring that we maintain rigorous oversight of the [intelligence committee’s] activities,” Warner said in a statement. 

Since returning to the White House in January, the Trump administration has ramped up US sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, human rights abuses, and support for terrorist groups across the Middle East and around the world. During Trump’s first term, the US withdrew from a 2015 deal with Iran that placed temporary restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, arguing it was too weak and would undermine American interests.

In response, Iran has gone to extensive lengths to obscure its nuclear activity and evade accountability from the international community, according to international nuclear watchdogs. Nonetheless, Iran has continued to claim that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than building weapons. 

The UK, France, and Germany said earlier this year there was no “credible civilian justification” for Iran’s recent nuclear activity, including the enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade levels, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

In September, US Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Strengthening Entry Visa Enforcement and Restrictions (SEVER) Act, which would prohibit members of Iran’s government, particularly those sanctioned for supporting the regime, from receiving US visas. The US has also placed severe sanctions on Iran’s oil exports. 

In June, the US bombed three key Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. The US had previously tried to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran, to no avail.