Our question this week comes from Linda in Bakersfield. She asks:
“I’m very concerned that we are giving Iran six billion dollars as Hamas is attacking Israel. What is going to be done to make sure this money doesn’t go to terrorist groups?”
Thank you for your question, Jenny. I too am incredibly concerned about the decision from the Biden Administration to unfreeze six billion in Iranian funds that were being held in South Korea. That money was being withheld under the U.S. sanctions against the Iranian government, as they have continually used profits from state oil sales to sponsor terrorism across the Middle East and the globe. To be clear, these funds are Iran’s – the U.S. is not giving six billion in taxpayer dollars to them.
Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. While it’s still unclear just how involved the Iranians were in supporting the current attacks against Israel, the Iranian government has enabled Hamas and Hezbollah by giving them weapons, training, and financial support for years. The United States should not be easing our sanctions on Iran until they permanently end their support and sponsorship of radicalized terrorist organizations.
I join the bipartisan group of lawmakers calling for the Biden Administration to halt the transfer of these funds back to Iran and will continue to work with my colleagues to combat the extremism being funded by the Iranian government.