Biden Allows Iran to Access Another $10 Billion Amid Gaza War
In a controversial move, the Biden administration has granted Iraq a new 4-month waiver, enabling the release of billions of dollars to Iran, blocked by US sanctions.
In a controversial move, the Biden administration has granted Iraq a new 4-month waiver, enabling the release of billions of dollars to Iran, blocked by US sanctions.
The decision, coming amid the Gaza war and Iran's backing for Hamas, would effectively unfreeze an estimated $10 billion that Iraq owes Iran but cannot pay due to US sanctions.
The Biden administration says a thorough vetting process is in place to ensure that any money released is used exclusively for Iran’s humanitarian and "non-sanctionable" needs such as food and medicine.
But the critics say money is fungible and this fund, however thoroughly vetted, would free up other funds that can be used for malign activities.
The move is all but certain to enrage many in Washington, especially at a time when American troops in Iraq and Syria are attacked by Iran-backed groups almost daily.
In fact, first signs of a backlash on Capitol Hill came within hours of the announcement.
“We must deny these terror groups Iran's resources by permanently freezing the $6B in Qatar, $10B in Iraq, and enforcing sanctions for China's purchases of Iranian oil,” said Senator Jim Risch, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator Marsha Blackburn also questioned the administration’s decision to release the Iranian funds Tuesday evening. “Iran financially supports Hamas’ terrorism,” she posted on X, “why would Biden want to send another $10 Billion to Tehran?”
Congressional Republicans pillory Biden’s Iran policy as “appeasement”. Many say his approach has emboldened the regime, not just in its nuclear program, but also its attack –direct or indirect– on US interests in the region. They have been trying for weeks to force the administration to change direction by legislative means. So far to no avail.
“We're bringing a bill to the Floor this Thursday that will freeze the $6 billion that Joe Biden wants to give to Iran," the House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday.
The now infamous $6 billion was Iran’s oil revenue blocked in South Korea. The US government allowed it to be released as part of a deal in September that brought back five Iranian-Americans who were held hostage in Iran.
That deal raised many questions from the onset. Some Republicans in the Congress called it ‘ransom’ and warned that the regime in Iran could spend it on militias targeting US forces or advancing its nuclear program.
The October 7 terror attack on Israel made such voices stronger and louder, since Hamas is a big beneficiary of the Islamic Republic’s largesse to maintain or enhance its influence in the region.
Despite these concerns, the US Secretary of State signed the Iraq waiver Tuesday, saying that the administration considers it imperative to maintain Iraq's crucial energy source. It seems the decision was made after Secretary of State Blinken traveled to Iraq and Qatar recently as part of his Middle East tour to address the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Some have suggested that the Biden administration “may be attempting to classify the waiver” to avoid scrutiny.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies posted on X: “Sent to House and Senate Security Offices to prevent public oversight tonight. The law requires an unclassified waiver but permits a classified annex. White House [is] trying to hide this $10 billion [going] to Iran.”
According to AP, officials have said (on condition of anonymity) that in the previous 120-day window, only a small portion of Iran's money had been transferred from Iraq to Oman –and of that small portion now held in Omani banks, nothing has been spent.
In a document disclosed by Tehran's Jamaran news website, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini criticized the "weakness in playing a central and effective role" in addressing the Gaza conflict. He expressed the expectation that Iran’s Foreign Ministry, being the "most powerful country in the resistance axis," should have convened an urgent meeting with members of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Tehran.
Taking issue with the performance of Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Meshkini, who sits on the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, asked: "How is it that until recently, the goal was to eliminate the Zionist regime, but now the discourse has shifted."
It appears that he is referring to the fact that Iran has recently twice accepted the two-state solution.
As part of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestine would be an independent state alongside Israel. There are still disputes over the border between the two states, and the Palestinian and Arab leaderships are demanding that Israel withdraw from territories it occupied in 1967, which is rejected by Israel.
Iran's public position, however, has always been to annihilate Israel as a state, rejecting a two-state agreement.
On October 27, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling for a "humanitarian truce" in Gaza. Back then, Iranian hardliner outlets attempted to justify Iran's vote in favor of that resolution, which also advocated a two-state solution.
“Did Iran vote for the two-state solution? Although some have expressed doubts regarding Iran's position towards Palestine and the formation of an independent Palestinian state following the recent resolution of the General Assembly, Iran's position remains strong,” Fars News wrote last week.
The paper then cited the Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations as saying that if they hadn’t voted, it would have been “playing into the hands of the Zionist regime”.
“The Arab League presented this resolution to the United Nations General Assembly, but it was never discussed,” he explained according to Fars News.
More recently, in a summit of Islamic and Arab states in Riyadh, in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also participated, a statement was released that also referred to the two-state solution.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran had always expressed “reservations” in the past about some of the provisions approved during the Riyadh summit.
Hardliners in the regime still call for the destruction of Israel and claim they are eager to go and fight in Gaza, while the top leadership has been cautious so far, avoiding any direct involvement.
Referring to the war in Gaza, General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, a deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, IRGC, said on Tuesday that while it’s true they have not sent any troops to Gaza, but that does not imply that nothing is being done.
“We eagerly await the order to deploy to Gaza,” he said rhetorically.
As more of a symbolic gesture, 150 members of the parliament have volunteered for deployment to Gaza, and the regime claims to have registered 6 million volunteers ready to join the war in Gaza.
The move to impeach Amir-Abdollahian resembles another attempt at posturing by hardliners.
With the next parliamentary election around the corner, this could also be a sign that hardliners such as Meshkini, who is sanctioned by the EU and UK, are appealing to extremists for their votes.
Former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told centrist news website Entekhab that "opposition to national interests is in the nature of some of Iran's hardliners." He had disclosed earlier that hardliners sent letters to Khamenei to encourage him to intervene in the Gaza war.
Zarif said on social media that "In several interviews over the past week, I tried to explain Israel's warmongering objectives and its inhumane treatment of Palestinians over the past 70 years. Unfortunately, some of my statements were fragmented before publication and then used selectively. At times, hardliners used my statements to further their own political game."
Last week, it was reformist journalist Sara Massoumi who first reported Zarif's speech during a meeting with reformist politicians in Tehran. Massoumi quoted Zarif as having said: "If Iran is dragged into the Israel-Gaza war, nothing is going to happen to any of Iran's state officials! The bombs are going to fall on the people."
Elsewhere in the speech Zarif asked: "So far who has suffered from the sanctions? Those who make several millions of dollars, or the poor people?"
Zarif posted a video of his statement on YouTube and X, and called on viewers to see for themselves that those who accuse him of not having any concern for Palestinians were wrong or biased in their judgement. He also reiterated his call for Islamic and national solidarity in support of Palestinians.
Nonetheless, his critics continued to attack him on social media. "Congratulations Mr. Zarif! Your video clip is being used by Israeli and European channels with the caption 'Former Iranian Foreign Minister says Gaza has nothing to do with Iran.' Once again you backstabbed Iran among the Resistance groups and countries."
Zarif, in return, told Entekhab that the accusations were part of a factional polarization attempt to poison the mood in the society." Zarif had said in an earlier interview on Telegram that "Israel dreams of getting Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah involved in the Gaza war.”
In another statement, Zarif accused Iranian hardliners of boosting Iranophobia and Islamophobia in the world with their behavior. He added that Iran has been eliminated from the international scene as many big powers do not like to engage with Tehran. He added that none of the powerful world players, particularly Russia want Iran to be able to play any part on international scene.
He further referred to the controversy about the use of Iranian drones in Russia's war against Ukraine and accused Russia of letting down Iran by getting the drones from Tehran and then disclosing Iran’s involvement in the war.
Last week, former President Hassan Rouhani had also warned against Iran becoming involved in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Rouhani addressed the ongoing conflict in Gaza, warning that regime’s role in flaming the conflict was putting Iran at risk. He emphasized the potential consequences of its direct, or indirect involvement through proxies, warning that "a mistake, a wrong decision, or an imprecise action could drag the flames of war towards us."
The United States announced its third round of sanctions since the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. The measures target key Hamas officials and the mechanisms through which Iran provides support to Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another militant group.
US State Department in announcing the sanctions particularly focused on the financial and military support by the Iranian regime to Hamas and other militant groups.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement highlighted that “Iran’s support, primarily through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, enables Hamas and PIJ’s terrorist activities, including through the transfer of funds and the provision of both weapons and operational training. Iran has trained PIJ fighters to produce and develop missiles in Gaza while also funding groups that provide financial support to PIJ-affiliated fighters.”
Britain added six new designations to its counter-terrorism sanctions list, including four individuals linked to Hamas, an update to the UK government website showed.
"The United States will continue to work with our partners, including the U.K., to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out its atrocities," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
"Hamas’s actions have caused immense suffering and shown that terrorism does not occur in isolation. Together with our partners we are decisively moving to degrade Hamas's financial infrastructure, cut them off from outside funding, and block the new funding channels they seek to finance their heinous acts."
Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group's fighters burst across the fence around the Gaza enclave on October 7 and rampaged through Israeli towns killing civilians. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and around 240 were dragged back to Gaza as hostages in the deadliest day of its 75-year history.
There are also thousands of casualties in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks, although there is no independent estimate of the exact numbers.
FINANCES TARGETED
Since the terror attack, Washington has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Hamas. It has targeted the group's investment portfolio and issued an alert to financial institutions on countering Hamas financing while senior officials have discussed the group's access to funds on trips abroad.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Britain and others.
Washington's action on Tuesday specifically targeted Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, a senior member and co-founder of Hamas, the PIJ's representative to Iran and the Damascus-based Deputy Secretary General of PIJ and leader of its militant wing.
Lebanon-based money exchange company Nabil Chouman & Co was also targeted, along with its owner and founder. Treasury said Hamas uses the company to transfer money from Iran to Gaza and accused it of having transferred tens of millions of dollars to the group.
Washington's move freezes any US assets of those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those who engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Reuters last week that efforts to cut off Hamas funding would increasingly focus on facilitators in third countries, and that it would take coordination with allies and partners to shut off those avenues. His recent trip to Europe centered on fostering more cooperation in this area.