A group of Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), are calling on the Biden administration to refreeze the $6 billion in assets it allowed Iran to use for humanitarian purposes in exchange for the release of five American prisoners, The Hill reported Tuesday.
Blackburn and other Republican senators wrote a letter to Biden, dated October 9, calling on him to stop the flow of the $6 billion into Iran, even though the funds are only supposed to be used for humanitarian purposes.
“Your administration claims these funds are only available for humanitarian use, but money is fungible, and there is significant risk they could be used to further efforts by Iran or Hamas against Israel,” they wrote.
“Moreover, allowing $6 billion to flow into Iran’s economy, even if the purpose is for humanitarian aid, allows the Iranian regime to reallocate even more funds to supporting terrorism,” they added.
The senators said conducting oversight over the use of the unfrozen assets “is not enough” because “the oversight mechanism is crippled by your reported decision to pull the longstanding Treasury attaché from Qatar.”
The signatories to the letter urged the State Department to immediately rescind the waivers that will allow Iranian funds to move through accessible bank accounts in Qatar.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken disputed claims from Republican presidential candidates that the Iranian assets may have helped pay for terror attacks outside the Gaza Strip, telling ABC’s “This Week” that “not a single dollar from that account has actually been spent to date.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a staunch supporter of Israel, later pushed back on Blinken’s comments.
“I actually think it was irresponsible for Secretary Blinken to say that the $6 billion doesn’t weigh in here. I mean, let’s be honest with the American people and understand that Hamas knows and Iran knows they’re moving money around as we speak, because they know 6 billion is going to be released. That’s the reality,” she told NBC News.