WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and nine Senate colleagues are holding the Biden administration accountable for its recent decision to issue a sanctions waiver for Iran, granting the regime upwards of $10 billion in frozen funds. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the senators wrote, in part:
“It is unfathomable that this is the context in which the administration determined that it was within the national security interest of the United States to waive sanctions on restricted Iranian funds, making them more accessible to the regime.
“The United States should be restricting Iran’s access to currency abroad. Instead, your administration is expanding it, all while continuing to share limited information on a strategy to restore deterrence in the Middle East with Congress or the American people.”
The senators are additionally concerned the Biden administration’s waiver will allow Iran to bypass existing sanctions – a consequence that violates congressional intent and effectively subsidizes the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Grassley and Scott were joined on the letter by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Risk Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).
Read the full letter HERE.
Background:
This sanctions waiver, originally approved by the Biden administration in March 2024, allows Iraq to transfer billions of dollars in electricity payments to Iran via third-party countries. The sanctions waiver was last approved in November 2023 and set to expire in April 2024.
In response to the Biden administration’s November decision, Grassley joined Scott and Senate colleagues in calling out the administration’s lack of a cohesive Iran strategy, even as Iran-backed Hamas continues its violent conflict with Israel.
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