Free Beacon is reporting today that Joe Biden is actually considering allowing Iran to access $10 billion in frozen funds that sit in Iraq.
After the horrendous terrorist attack in Israel last month, Biden finally capitulated to pressure and refroze the $6 billion sitting in a Qatari bank.
But this would completely undermine that move by allowing Iran to access even more money.
The Biden administration may approve a sanctions waiver on Tuesday that will allow Iran to access at least $10 billion in previously frozen funds held in Iraq, a closely watched decision that comes just a month after the Tehran-backed terror group Hamas launched an attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead.
The waiver would extend the multibillion-dollar sanctions relief first issued in July that expires tomorrow. It allows Iraq to transfer frozen electricity payments into Iranian-owned bank accounts in Europe and Oman. The waiver renewal is driving concerns that the Biden administration is maintaining financial avenues for Tehran as the country’s terrorist proxies foment chaos across the Middle East.
While the Biden administration paused a $6 billion ransom payment to Iran following a pressure campaign in Congress, the Iraq-Europe-Oman sanctions waiver would signal the United States is still trying to provide financial relief to the hardline regime. Iranian military officials warned Monday that the Gaza war has already “spilled over into neighboring Lebanon and may even widen in scope” as Iranian-armed Hezbollah fighters become more active in the conflict. Tehran also has been rallying Arab nations against Israel, threatening to prolong the war and open more fronts.
The Trump administration first allowed Iraq to import electricity and gas from Iran, but only on the condition that the payments were kept in an escrow account in Baghdad. The Biden administration continued to issue that waiver, and then broadened it in July so that Iraq could move more than $10 billion outside the country, enabling Tehran to draw on the funds for its budget and humanitarian needs. In late October, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran reportedly discussed expediting Iran’s access to the funds with his Omani counterpart.
In testimony before Congress late last month, Goldberg advised Congress to lock down the $10 billion as punishment for Tehran’s role in supporting Hamas’s war on Israel.
The Biden administration insists that, like the $6 billion held in Qatar, Iran can only use the $10 billion for non-sanctioned purposes.
Biden’s excuse on Iran’s use of money is complete garbage. Iran can use the money how they see fit and they will use it for terrorism. Especially since the US just destroyed a bunch of their weapons this weekend in Syria.