In the latest phase of an unacknowledged and unlawful nuclear deal between the United States and Iran, President Joe Biden this week formally approved giving the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism another $6 billion — ostensibly for the release of five Americans held hostage in Tehran.
However, by bypassing Congress to avoid a political fight he knows he’d lose, Biden is not only guaranteeing more hostage-taking of American citizens, but also subsidizing Iran’s terrorism, military support for Russia, nuclear-weapons capabilities, and repression of Iranian women.
In May, a high-ranking White House official visited Oman to deliver a message to Tehran: Washington wants to broker a secret nuclear deal.
Biden would lift sanctions restrictions on Iranian funds held outside its borders, and in return, Iran would slow its steady progress towards a nuclear-weapons threshold.
Iran would be allowed to continue targeting former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook, and other Americans.
Tehran could continue directing attacks against Israel through its Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad terror proxies.
The mullahs could keep providing armed drones to Vladimir Putin to use against the Ukrainian people.
The regime could even continue producing high-enriched uranium just a stone’s throw from weapons-grade, manufacturing advanced centrifuges, developing longer-range missiles, denying access to international nuclear inspectors, and constructing a new underground facility that could prove invulnerable to military action.
Biden’s only demands: Don’t cross the nuclear threshold by producing weapons-grade uranium and release five American citizens held hostage in Iran.
For Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the deal was a dream come true.
On the nuclear front, Iran gives up nothing. The United Nation’s nuclear watchdog recently reported that Iran is still expanding its stockpile of high-enriched uranium, just at a slower rate.
As for the five American hostages — at a cost of $1.2 billion per person — Khamenei will simply replenish his collection of American hostages for future extortion.
Meanwhile, Iran gets to use billions of dollars in budget support to finance a wide range of illicit activities.
In June and July, the Biden administration unfroze over $10 billion of Iranian assets held in Iraq, allowing Baghdad to transfer payments for Iranian electricity into accounts in Oman established for Tehran’s use — payments that will continue on an ongoing basis.
Now, an additional $6 billion has been transferred to accounts in Qatar, providing the regime with additional budget support.
Multiple reports also suggest Washington is enabling Tehran to trade $7 billion in International Monetary Fund special drawing rights for fiat currency.
At the same time, US officials now admit they’re allowing Iranian oil exports to China to skyrocket with estimates ranging from 1.4 to 2.2 million barrels per day flowing in August — their highest levels since President Donald Trump ended America’s participation in the old Iran nuclear deal.
Conservative estimates put this sanctions relief at $25 billion in annual revenue. Iran is now eyeing the transfer of another $3 billion from Japan.
All in all, this amounts to at least a $50 billion protection racket — not just a $6 billion hostage payment.
How can this occur without Congress holding one hearing or one vote? Because the deal was negotiated in secret and the White House insists there is no deal.
To acknowledge an agreement would trigger a 2015 law, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, that prohibits sanctions relief for Iran tied to its nuclear activities until Congress has been provided with 30 days to review and potentially reject the deal.
Considering Iran’s plots to assassinate US officials, arms transfers to Russia, and crackdowns on women, the White House knows that a vote on a deal that pays Iran to expand rather than curtail its nuclear-weapons capabilities would be rejected on a bipartisan basis in the House and Senate.
And with job approval numbers dropping on the eve of his reelection year, engaging in a political battle over a dangerous nuclear deal is a distraction his aides want to avoid.
Congress must not stand for this blatant abuse of power and evasion of the law. Oversight committees should demand all documents related to the secret nuclear negotiations.
The House should also pass a joint resolution of disapproval rejecting the new deal and putting pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to hold a vote as well.
New legislation to prevent the executive from releasing more funds should also be considered.
President Biden is sacrificing our national security for temporary assurance of nuclear calm in Tehran until next November. Congress must not let him get away with it.
Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is a former National Security Council official and senior US Senate aide.
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