The outgoing Biden-Harris administration gave Iran $10 billion in sanctions relief just days after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, despite Iran’s ongoing attacks against Israel and support for terrorist organizations.
As reported by The Washington Free Bacon:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined on November 8 that “it is in the national security interest of the United States” to waive mandatory economic sanctions that bar Iraq from transferring upward of $10 billion to Iran in electricity import payments.
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Though the first Trump administration did green-light the same waiver—causing tension with some congressional Republicans—it narrowly tailored the waiver to restrict Iranian access to the cash. The Biden State Department tweaked the waiver last year to allow Tehran to convert the funds from Iraqi dinars to euros, then hold those euros in bank accounts based in Oman. Access to a widely traded currency like the euro enables Iran to more easily spend the cash in international markets.
Under the first Trump administration, Iran had to keep the cash in an escrow account in Baghdad, making it more difficult to access.
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The Biden State Department maintains that Iran is only permitted to use the funds for humanitarian needs, including medicines and other supplies. Republican critics argue that money is fungible, meaning that Tehran will have an easier time diverting its dwindling cash reserves to its regional terror proxies, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, should it have access to the sanctioned cash for other purposes.
The sanctions waiver also came just days after the United Nations determined that Iran was able to give the Houthi rebels in Yemen “unprecedented” support after the Biden administration waived $6 billion in sanctions on Iran.
The Houthi rebels attacked global commercial shipping through the Red Sea and have launched ballistic missiles at Israeli population centers. Biden delisted the Iranian-backed rebels as a terrorist group upon taking office in 2021.
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