The U.S. and Qatari governments have agreed to block Iran from accessing any of the $6 billion it gained access to as part of a prisoner swap deal between the Biden administration and Tehran last month, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told House Democrats on Thursday, according to three sources familiar with his remarks, two of whom were in the room.
Punchbowl News was first to report on Adeyemo’s comments.
The decision comes as the administration faced bipartisan pressure to block Iran’s access to the money as U.S. officials continue to investigate whether Iran had any direct involvement in Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel. The Biden administration has said the $6 billion in unfrozen Iranian oil assets could be used by Tehran only for humanitarian assistance.
The money was transferred last month from a South Korean bank to a bank in Qatar. Iran could only access the money through a series of steps, including oversight by the Treasury Department, administration officials have said.
I bet that deal had generic terms in it like “all parties will promote peace through their actions” blah blah blah. If you violate the spirit of an agreement, it’s off. It’s not just the words that count.
Remember that this deal happened while both parties are supporting opposite sides in Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Both Iran and the US are very careful to not be directly involved in the fighting, they just provide weapons.
A Hamas spokesman indicated that Iran was directly involved in planning this attack, further inflaming the situation in Palestine. That’s why Iran is being investigated: because they are directly increasing the violence. Plus even providing weapons to non-state actors is a big no-no in international relations.
Isn’t the US the world’s largest exporter of weapons? How is this different?
It just feels like next time they simply won’t do prisoner swaps or will demand the payment upfront.
Once the prisoners are swapped, the deal should be done. That they took a while to hold the money in escrow and then were witness to the Israel incident should have no bearing on this deal since the deal was complete?
Genuinely curious here; I’ve no horse in this race!