The Biden administration is being blasted for allowing billions of dollars to allegedly flow into Iran under a controversial sanctions waiver — even after Iranian-backed rebels launched deadly air strikes against American forces and the Muslim country just directly attacked staunch US ally Israel.
Last month, the White House extended the waiver, a move that unlocked up to $10 billion more in frozen funds by enabling Iraq to pay the Iranian government for electricity services, according to critics and the Washington Free Beacon.
The Biden administration had already renewed the waiver program, which was established in 2018, in November.
The extended waiver was then set to expire again in March, but the administration reapproved it once more — just six weeks after three US service members were killed and dozens more injured in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants in Jordan in late January.
This past weekend, Iran launched 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for an airstrike in Damascus earlier this month.
The State Department has long insisted such waivers are “necessary” while Iraq “weans itself off Iranian energy imports” and develops its domestic oil and gas production. The White House claims the unfrozen funds can only be used for humanitarian purposes.
“None of Iran’s money held in restricted accounts overseas has gone to Iran, and we have not freed up any cash to Iran. Any notion to the contrary is false and misleading.” the State Department told The Post in a statement Sunday.
“That money is held in restricted accounts overseas with strict oversight and in close coordination between the Departments of Treasury and State.”
Asked if plans are in the works to increase pressure on Iran through additional sanctions after Saturday’s missile strike, the State Department said, “We are in ongoing engagement with allies and partners, including at the G7, on ways to increase pressure on Iran, but we cannot preview or detail measures under consideration.”
In a statement to The Post, the White House stood by President Biden’s record on Iran, citing the US military’s efforts in thwarting last night’s attack, as well as imposing “more than 500 sanctions on Iran” since taking office.
“The waiver…which allows for Iraq to import Iranian energy as it works to become energy independent, continues a practice that was started by the Trump administration and has been renewed 21 times since 2018,” the White House said.
“Precisely zero money from this electricity waiver is going to Iran. U.S. sanctions remain in place and are continuing to prevent Iran’s money—whether from its oil sales under previous administrations or its electricity sales to Iraq that occurred—from flowing to Iran.”
“Under these waivers, no money has been permitted to enter Iran,” a State Department official insisted to the Beacon. “These funds, which are held abroad in third countries, can only be used for transactions for the purchase of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices, and other non-sanctionable transactions.
“The money goes straight to the trusted vendor or financial institution in another country. The money never touches Iran.”
But some Republican lawmakers say a lack of transparency and accountability has resulted in the funds being used to pay for state-sanctioned terrorist operations in the rogue nation.
Earlier this month, a group of 13 Republican senators led by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) wrote a pointed letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for an end to such sanction waivers.
The senators called it “unfathomable” that the Biden administration believes that making the funds potentially available to Iran serves US national security interests.
“If we want to actually restore deterrence in the region, those funds should be placed further out of Iran’s reach, not closer,” the blistering letter said.
On April 9, the committee grilled Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo about the “fungible nature” of the funds, which ostensibly are earmarked exclusively for humanitarian purposes.
Even Adeyemo said it is likely the funds have been used to finance “violent activity” before a cent of them reaches Iranians in need.
“What we’ve seen time and time again from the Iranian regime, is they [Iran] fail to feed their people, and they’ve put the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] first. Any dollar they have will go towards their violent activity before they deal with their people,” Adeyemo testified.
“That’s partially why almost none of the humanitarian money has been used for humanitarian purposes, because they don’t care about getting drugs and food for their people.”
In the wake of the Islamic republic’s missile and drone strike against Israel on Saturday, several of the letter’s signatories Sunday accused the Biden administration of emboldening the regime through its sanctions policies.
“President Biden’s hollow, dithering doctrine of appeasement has not only emboldened Iran, it’s enriched the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) told The Post in a statement.
” ‘Don’t’ is not a foreign policy; and it’s certainly not a deterrent,” the senator said, referencing the one-word warning Biden issued ahead of Iran launching its attack.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told The Post that the Biden administration has overseen a flood of cash landing in Iran’s coffers.
“Four years ago, Iran was weak and the ayatollahs were nearly broke. Now thanks to Joe Biden’s sanctions relief and weak policies on Iran, they have enough cash to shoot 300 drones and missiles at Israel, an unprecedented attack on our ally,” Cotton claimed.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby fended off questions about whether the administration has been tough enough on Iran.
“Look at the sanctions we’ve put in place against Iran, look at the resources we put into the region. It’s hard to take a look at what President Biden has done and say that we’ve somehow go soft on Iran,” Kirby said.
He pointed the finger at former President Trump’s administration for Iran now being “dramatically closer to a potential nuclear weapon capability than they were before Mr. Trump was elected.”
On Saturday night, Iran launched 170 drones, 120 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles in a mass-scale aerial assault on the Jewish state.
With the help of Israel’s allies, and its advanced “David’s Sling” missile defense system, approximately 99% of the ordinance was intercepted and never hit the ground in Israel.
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