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Among other things, the bill, whose text was seen by Reuters,
would impose terrorism-related sanctions on Iranian-controlled
militias and require the U.S. Secretary of State to publish and
maintain a list of armed groups receiving assistance from the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
Sponsors of the "Iranian Proxies Terrorist Sanctions Act"
include Senators David Perdue, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. A
similar bill, backed by Republican Representative Ted Poe, has
been introduced in the House of Representatives.
There was no immediate word on when the legislation might be
considered by congressional committees, normally the first steps
toward becoming law.
Three mortar shells landed inside Baghdad's heavily fortified
Green Zone just after midnight local time on Friday, the first
such attack in several years in the area, which houses
parliament, government buildings and many foreign embassies.
On Tuesday, the United States warned Iran that it would "respond
swiftly and decisively" to any attacks by its allies in Iraq
that resulted in injury to Americans or damage to U.S.
facilities.
Reuters reported last month that Iran had given ballistic
missiles to Shi'ite Muslim proxy groups in Iraq and was
developing the capacity to build more there, a development
likely to exacerbate tensions between Tehran and Washington,
already heightened by President Donald Trump.
In May, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015
international nuclear accord with Iran and ordered the
reimposition of U.S. sanctions suspended under the deal aimed at
stalling Tehran's nuclear capabilities.
Iran's Sunni Muslim Gulf neighbors and its arch-enemy Israel
have expressed concerns about Tehran's regional activities as a
threat to their security.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Grant McCool)
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