Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined how often and under what circumstances the United States invoked laws imposing sanctions on nations supporting terrorism.

GAO found that: (1) since 1979, the Secretary of State has designated Iran, Libya, Syria, South Yemen, Cuba, and Iraq as countries that support or participate in terrorism, but he removed Iraq from the list in 1982; (2) the President and executive agencies cited a wide variety of laws and executive orders in imposing sanctions against listed countries; and (3) the types of sanctions imposed against listed countries included restriction or prohibition of trade or foreign military sales, restriction of oil and other imports, immigration restrictions against citizens of listed countries, severance of diplomatic relations, export controls or embargoes, asset seizure, travel limitations, and elimination of economic assistance.