{"id":16960,"date":"2024-03-14T12:47:01","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T12:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/biden-admin-under-pressure-to-stop-billions-of-dollars-in-sanctions-relief-to-iran\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T12:47:01","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T12:47:01","slug":"biden-admin-under-pressure-to-stop-billions-of-dollars-in-sanctions-relief-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/biden-admin-under-pressure-to-stop-billions-of-dollars-in-sanctions-relief-to-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden admin under pressure to stop billions of dollars in sanctions relief to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Biden administration is facing growing pressure over its policy of pumping billions into the cash-starved economy of Iran\u2019s regime after its proxies were accused of killing three U.S. soldiers in Jordan in late January.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been reported that Biden might again extend this month\u2019s sanctions waiver to the Islamic Republic of Iran that would result in as much as $10 billion funneled into Iran\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n

Richard Goldberg, a former member of then President Trump\u2019s National Security Council, told Fox News Digital, \u2018In the\u00a0four months since President Biden last renewed this waiver and gave Iran access to billions of dollars, Biden has subsidized the murder of three American soldiers, non-stop attacks on the U.S. Navy and American-owned ships in the Red Sea, and a threatening expansion of Iran\u2019s nuclear program. If the president extends Iran\u2019s access to these funds, Senate Republicans should mount a campaign to force a vote on legislation that would lock down the cash.\u2019<\/p>\n

Iranian regime-backed proxies\u00a0murdered three American soldiers at Tower 22 in Jordan. Tehran\u2019s wholly-owned Houthi terrorist movement based in Yemen has launched\u00a0fierce attacks on U.S vessels, as well as disrupted maritime trade in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added, \u2018The responsible path forward would be to revert the waiver to older language that denies the mullahs access to the money while still allowing Iraq to physically import electricity from Iran.\u2019<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations has classified Iran\u2019s clerical regime as the world\u2019s worst state-sponsor of terrorism.<\/p>\n

A U.S. State Department Spokesperson told Fox News Digital they disagreed that unfreezing the sanctioned funds held by Iraq will add to Iran\u2019s terrorist superstructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spokesperson claimed, \u2018That characterization of Iraq\u2019s electricity waiver is wholly inaccurate.\u00a0Under these waivers, no money has been permitted to enter Iran.\u00a0Any notion to the contrary is false and misleading.\u00a0These funds, which are held abroad in third countries, can only be used for transactions for the purchase of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices, and other non-sanctionable transactions. The money goes straight to the trusted vendor or financial institution in another country.\u00a0The money never touches Iran.\u2019<\/p>\n

Last year Iran\u2019s U.S.-sanctioned President Ebrahim Raisi boasted that the money will be used\u00a0\u2018wherever we need it.\u2019\u00a0 The Trump administration sanctioned Raisi for his role in the massacre of thousands of Iranian protesters and dissidents.<\/p>\n

The State Department spokesperson said about Raisi\u2019s defiance that \u2018Iran\u2019s political leadership can say what they want, but we are confident in the restrictions in place to ensure these funds are not used for any sanctionable purpose, or we would not have made the deal that led to the release of the U.S. citizens unjustly held by Iran in September.\u2019<\/p>\n

The spokesperson continued, \u2018While Iran has said publicly that it can use these funds any time it wants, this is false.\u00a0In coordination with the Department of the Treasury, we have established rigorous oversight mechanisms to ensure these restricted funds can only be used for humanitarian trade, meaning food, medicine, medical devices, and agricultural products from third-party vendors, as well as certain other non-sanctionable purposes with separate authorization by the U.S. government. U.S. sanctions are not intended to punish ordinary people in Iran.\u2019<\/p>\n

The State Department spokesperson did not know at this stage if Biden will waive the sanctions imposed on Iran\u2019s regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We have\u00a0nothing to share today about the possible renewal of the waiver, but the waiver has been regularly renewed since 2018, continuing a practice from the prior administration.\u00a0We do not support, license, or provide comfort for transactions that could be used for malign purposes,\u2019 they said.<\/p>\n

According to the spokesperson, \u2018Iraq is making progress in its path to energy self-sufficiency by increasing regional electricity interconnections, capturing and utilizing natural gas associated with oil production, and developing new domestic gas resources. Over the past two to three years, Iraq\u2019s reliance on Iranian electricity and natural gas imports has significantly decreased.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked if a planned sanctions waiver would be as much as $10 billion or another amount, the spokesperson explained, \u2018This is a misunderstanding of the waiver. The waiver authorizes Iraq to pay Iran for electricity imports into Iran\u2019s restricted accounts held in Iraq. It does not permit some amount of money to be transmitted to Iran.\u2019<\/p>\n

Republicans have strongly objected over the years to Biden repeatedly waiving sanctions imposed on the theocratic Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

The Washington Free Beacon first reported on Tuesday that four House Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the Biden administration, noting that, \u2018Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have launched over 160 attacks on U.S. troops since Hamas\u2014another Iran-backed terrorist organization\u2014murdered over 1,200 innocent people in Israel, kidnapped over 240 people, and committed depraved sexual violence on October 7, 2023.\u2019<\/p>\n

The lawmakers also highlighted, \u2018An Iran-backed proxy militia group\u2014 conducted a lethal drone attack on a U.S. base in Jordan. The attack resulted in the deaths of three American service members and injured over forty others.\u2019<\/p>\n

According to the letter, \u2018These attacks raise serious questions about the Biden Administration\u2019s Iran sanctions policy. Only six months ago, the Administration authorized the transfer of over $6 billion worth of Iranian funds from South Korea to a Qatari bank, as a part of a hostage deal that many viewed as tantamount to ransom. Later in October, Hamas conducted a devastating attack on Israel. In response, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill to block the Iranian regime\u2019s access to those funds.\u2019<\/p>\n

The departure point of the lawmaker\u2019s letter is, Biden will green light the waiver and fail to ensure that the money does not advance Iranian regime terrorism. \u2018We presume that the Biden Administration will renew the waiver again to continue to allow for the transfer of funds from Iraq to Oman. By waiving the application of sanctions, the Administration is maintaining a financial lifeline for the Iranian regime, even as it continues to support terrorist organizations around the world.\u2019<\/p>\n

The letter continued, \u2018Iran has a history of lying about humanitarian transactions. There is no reason to think that they will not try to skirt these restrictions again. Additionally, money is fungible, and the waiver and subsequent transfer will free up billions in funds that Iran can now spend on its terrorist proxies, nuclear activities, and military.\u2019<\/p>\n

The lawmakers who authored the letter are: Bill Huizenga,Mich., Brian Mast, R-Fla., Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO., and Joe Wilson, R-SC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Biden administration is facing growing pressure over its policy of pumping billions into the cash-starved economy of Iran\u2019s regime after its proxies were accused of killing three U.S. soldiers in Jordan in late January. It\u2019s been reported that Biden might again extend this month\u2019s sanctions waiver to the Islamic Republic of Iran that would <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}