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 le💞ading state sponsor of terrorism another $6 billion — ostensibly for the release of five🃏 Americans h🐼eld hostage in Tehran.
But in bypassing Congress to avoid a political fight he knows he’d lose, Biden is not only guaranteeing more hostage-taking of American citizens, he’s also subsidizing Iran’s terrorism, military support for Russia, nuclear-weapons capabilities and repression of Iranian women.👍
In May, a top White House official visited Oman to pass a message to Tehran: Washington wants to broker ♕a nuclear deal in secret.
Biden would lift sanctions restrictions on Iranian funds held outside its borders, and in exchange Iran would slow its steady march toward a nuclear-weapons thresho🍃ld. 🎀;
Iran would be free to continue🐷 hunting former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook and other Americans.
Tehran could🦩 keep directing attacks agaꦿinst Israel through its Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror proxies.
The mullahs could keep providing armed drones to Vladimir Putin for use against the Ukrainian people.
The regime could even keep producing high-enriched uranium just a stone’s thr✨ow from weapons-grade, manufacturing advanced centrifuges, developing longer-range missiles, denying access to international nuclear inspectors and constructing a new underground f🌃acility that could prove invulnerable to military action.
Biden’s only demands: Don’t move across🌄 the nuclear threshold by producing weapons-grade uranium and release fi♋ve American citizens held hostage in Iran.
For Ayatoll🎐ah Ali Khamenei, the deal was a dream co꧋me true.
On the nuclear front, Iran gives up nothing. The United Nation’s nuclear watchdog♈ last week reported that Iran i🐭s 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 a person — Khamenei will merely restock his col🍃lection of American hostages for a future extortion racket.
Meanwhile, Iran gets to use billions of dollars in budget support to subsid♍ize a wide range of illicit activities.
In June and July, the Biden administration unfroze more than $10 billion of Iranian assets held in🍎 Iraq, allowing Baghdad to move payments for Iranian electricity into accounts in Oman established for Tehran’s use — payments that will continue on a rolling basis.
Now comes $6 billion more transferr♔ed to accounts in 🔥Qatar, providing the regime additional budget support.
Multiple reports also suggest Washington is allowing Tehran to trade $7 billion in In⛄ternational 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 — theiꦆr highest levels since President Donald Trump ended America’s participation in the old Iran nuclear deal.
Conservative estimates ꦦput this sanctions relief at 🅘$25 billion in annual revenue. Iran is now eyeing the transfer of another $3 billion from Japan.
All told, this is at least a $50 billion pro🥀tection racket — not just a $ℱ6 billion hostage payment.
How can this occur w🐎ithout 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 agre♎ement 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 afforded 30 days to review and pot♊entially reject the deal.
Given Iran’s assassination plots targeting US officials, arm transfers to Russia and crackdowns on women, the White House knows that a vote on a deal that pays Iran to expand rather th♏an curtail its nuclear-weapons capabilities would be rejected on a bipartisan basis in the House and Senate.
And with job-appro⛎val numbers sagging on the eve o﷽f his reelection year, waging a political battle over a dangerous nuclear deal is a distraction his aides want to avoid.
Congress sho✤uldn’t stand♎ for this flagrant abuse of power and evasion of the law.
Oversight committees should demand all documents related to the se🦂cret nuꦿclear 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 we⛄ll.
New legislation to prevent the executive from releasing more money should a💛lso be considered.
President🍒 Biden is mortgaging our national security to rent a false sense of nuclear quiet 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.