US Admits Iran May Use Ransom To Buy Weapons
Despite outcry over the US-Iran prisoner swap, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the deal but acknowledged that Iran may use the money for military purposes.
Despite outcry over the US-Iran prisoner swap, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the deal but acknowledged that Iran may use the money for military purposes.
During an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Blinken addressed concerns that the deal to release five Iranians in addition to $6 billion of the frozen assets in exchange for five Iranian-Americans who were held hostage could encourage further hostage-taking.
“These proceeds from Iran’s oil sales, they’ve always been entitled to use. Just as a practical matter, they couldn’t. But the other thing is whether we like it or not – and we don’t like it – the Iranians have always found ways to use money, whether there are sanctions or not, for military purposes," Blinken said, describing the agreement as a hard decision. "These are hard decisions, hard decisions for the president to make.”
However, a few minutes earlier in the interview, he had claimed that “we made an arrangement with the bank in question – this is a bank in Qatar – to make sure that we would have clear visibility over the way the money is spent,” claiming that if it is not being spent for humanitarian reasons such as food and medicine, “it’ll get shut down.”
The top US diplomat reiterated that “From day one for our sanctions, this has always been exempt, being able to use money, including by Iran, for humanitarian purposes – it’s always been exempt from our sanctions.”
Countless activists and politicians – mainly Republicans – have voiced opposition to the exchange, saying financial reward in a hostage situation will incentivize future hostage-taking.
The sentiment was echoed by several editorial articles in the past few days, even by the Washington Post, whose editorial board has predominantly endorsed Democrats in various elections.
The Post said the prisoner deal rewards noxious regimes and continues a miserable cycle of state-sponsored hostage-taking, “a barbaric practice that thrives on rewards and concessions from the United States and other nations.”
The daily pointed out that even if the Biden administration manages to step up monitoring on how the released money will be disbursed, the economic boost “will undoubtedly free up other funds to spend on more nefarious purposes, such as buying weapons.”
Highlighting that too many Americans remain unjustly held in Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and elsewhere around the world, the Post said these regimes view hostages as “a currency to be traded for future gain.”
It argued that the best deterrent to end this vicious cycle would be for the United States and other nations to refuse to negotiate for the release of such hostages, otherwise, “Rogue states clang the jail door shut and wait for the next payoff, and they almost never suffer consequences for stealing people off the street.” “The harsh truth is that rewarding hostage-taking breeds more of the same.”
In another editorial highlighting somewhat similar concerns, The Wall Street Journal Tuesday delved into the question of how Biden could prevent future attempts at ransom grabs. It underlined that the Islamic Republic has paid no price for imprisoning Americans and has now been paid ransom for them, calling it “part of Tehran’s business model" which works fine for the regime.
The Journal calls it “insulting” that White House National Security Council official Brett McGurk claims that the funds will be spent “only on a limited category of humanitarian trade: food, medicine and agricultural products,” saying that McGurk may be technically right about those specific funds. “But that leaves the Tehran regime able to devote other funds they would have spent on those goods for such malevolent purposes as terrorism by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
Quoting three regional sources familiar with discussions that Doha has held with Tehran and Washington, the effort is aimed at reaching “understandings” to iron out some differences. The aim is to address slowing Tehran's uranium enrichment alongside more international monitoring, curbing activities of Iran's proxy militias in the region and halting Iran's drone exports, all in return for some waivers on US sanctions on Iranian oil exports, the three sources said.
Officials in Doha said Qatari officials would hold separate meetings with Iranian and US officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week. One source briefed on the talks told Reuters those meetings would include discussing enrichment and Iranian drones.
If there is progress, Qatar aims to host indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, the source said. Qatar helped forge the hostage release deal with shuttle diplomacy between Iranian and US negotiators staying in separate hotels in Doha. The Biden administration agreed to authorize the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds blocked in South Korea since 2018.
Various media have been long reporting about a potential limited and unwritten agreement after formal talks to revive the 2015 JCPOA failed last year. Speculations in this regard became more frequent since June when the US authorized the release of $2.7 billion blocked in Iraqi banks. The Biden administration has played down any prospect of a wider deal, because according to the law, it must report to the US Congress about any nuclear agreement with Iran.
Republicans and some Democrats are becoming more critical of the Iranian regime and the administration’s apparent secret dealings with Tehran. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Mahsa Act September 13, which hardened US sanctions against Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi.
When the US hostages were released earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the door open to diplomacy on the nuclear file, which he described as "perhaps the number one issue of concern", but said nothing was imminent.
"In this moment, we're not engaged on that, but we'll see in the future if there are opportunities," he said in New York, in his response to a question about whether there could be more indirect talks with Iran soon.
Two Iranian insiders said there would be indirect meetings between Tehran and Washington in New York that could pave the way for talks on a nuclear "understanding". They said Iran had never shut the door to nuclear diplomacy.
Another Iranian insider briefed on discussions so far with Qatar told Reuters: "Considering the upcoming US elections, it is possible to reach an understanding that will involve issuing waivers on banking and oil sectors that would allow Iran to export its oil freely and get its money back via the banking system" - currently barred by existing US sanctions.
This would mean an almost total unravelling of economic sanctions imposed since 2018, while leaving Iran on the nuclear threshold, with more than 100 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent.
The three regional sources said Tehran had already committed to lowering enrichment of uranium to 60% - below the roughly 90% needed for a nuclear weapon - and was ready to resume cooperation with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which monitors Iran's nuclear work.
However, last week Iran withdrew accreditation to several UN nuclear inspectors, angering the IAEA and Western powers that later issued a statement calling on Tehran to rescind its decision. Iran could be upping the ante precisely because there are behind the scenes talks, to extract maximum concessions.