World
Two dozen US lawmakers scold Biden administration for Iran prisoner deal
A group of 26 Republican lawmakers slammed the Biden administration’s cash-for-prisoner deal with Iran on Friday, demanding an explanation for the potential sidestepping of Congress to pursue the agreement.
Washington and Tehran reached a deal, via Omani and Qatari mediators, that will see billions of dollars of Iranian funds unfrozen and Iranian prisoners freed in exchange for the release of five wrongfully detained Americans.
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The senators wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen voicing their “significant concern” over the decision to release an estimated $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
US officials have defended the deal and said that the funds would only be used for humanitarian causes by Iran despite claims to the contrary by Iranian officials. The senators have questioned how the US will ensure that the Iranian regime will not use the released funds to support terrorist networks and weapons proliferation.
“While we firmly believe the United States must use every appropriate resource to secure the release of American citizens wrongfully detained overseas, this decision will reinforce an incredibly dangerous precedent and enable the Iranian regime to increase its destabilizing activities across the Middle East,” the letter read.
The Obama administration cut a similar deal with Iran when it released $400 million in liquidated assets to Iran in 2016 in return for Americans detained by Iran.
“Seven years later, the current administration is providing a ransom payment worth at least fifteen times that amount to the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, in yet another violation of the United States’ long-standing ‘no concessions’ policy,” the senators wrote.
They also warned that this would only encourage additional hostage-taking in return for financial or political gain.
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA) forces mandates the president to transmit any agreement with Iran related to its nuclear program to Congress for review.
Less than 24 hours after Washington and Tehran confirmed the prisoner-for-cash deal, reports suggested that Iran had slowed how fast it was accumulating near weapons-grade enriched uranium and had diluted some of its stockpiles. Blinken said he could not confirm those reports.
On Friday, the Republican senators said they feared the recent deal was an attempt to “sidestep” Congress and pursue alternative paths to financially compensate Iran “in an attempt to renegotiate a successor to the ill-fated 2015 nuclear deal.”
The Biden administration had prioritized reviving the now-defunct nuclear deal reached in 2015 under the Obama administration. But talks stalled last year after Iran reneged on commitments it had made as part of the new deal.
Gabriel Noronha, a State Department advisor on Iran during the Trump administration, said that career diplomats at Foggy Bottom were upset with the deal, with some going as far as saying that “this is 100 percent a ransom payment.”
THREAD: I’ve spoken with career @StateDept Iran officials about the latest hostage/nuke deal with Iran. They are very upset and tell me the admin’s public answers are misguided.
“This is 100% a ransom payment…100% this will lead to more Americans being taken hostage.” pic.twitter.com/u1kxIOmVMl— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) August 14, 2023
Progressive Democrats, including Senator Chris Murphy, have staunchly defended the agreement. Murphy, who met with the former Iranian foreign minister when former President Donald Trump was in office, said the funds released were Iran’s to begin with.
Read more: US confirms release of five Americans detained by Iran, denies sanctions relief