S 3081: Fortify Israel Act

Congress: 118 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel

Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).

Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for S 3081.

Sponsor: Daines, Steve (R-Montana)

Editorial Explainer

The bill blocks the U.S. from releasing any Iranian assets currently frozen by the Treasury until hostilities between Hamas and Israel cease and Iran compensates Israel for damages from the October 2023 invasion, or participates in an international compensation mechanism. It also authorizes the President to confiscate additional Iranian assets under U.S. jurisdiction and deposit them into a fund to purchase defense articles and services for Israel, with Congress able to disapprove any release of frozen assets within 30 days.

Why it matters

This ties the fate of billions in frozen Iranian assets to Israeli compensation claims and creates a new mechanism to funnel confiscated Iranian money directly to Israeli military procurement. It gives Congress veto power over asset releases but removes judicial review of the confiscation itself, raising questions about enforcement of international law while centralizing control over a major financial sanction tool.