The U.S. Money Trail With Iran Is Worse Than You ThinkIt all becomes even more egregious when inspected within the context of the Biden administration’s foreign and domestic policies.BY: ARYNNE WEXLER
OCTOBER 11, 2023
Many of the articles surrounding the atrocities of the Hamas attacks this past weekend have referenced the recent $6 billion “deal,” in which the U.S. gave this money to Iran in exchange for five Americans. It already seemed like the worst trade in history.
But it’s more nefarious than simply unleashing $6 billion to Iran, a known terrorist state and the most existential threat to the free world. In reality, this one detail hyperlinked quickly in most articles is part of a larger spider web of hidden details.
In a recent article, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former National Security Council official Richard Goldberg traces the money trail. He confirms: It is so much worse than we think.
Goldberg lays out the numbers. The $6 billion you’ve seen in every (other) headline is only the money being transferred from our friends in Qatar. But this is separate from the $10 billion of assets being transferred from Iraq, which Goldberg says will continue on “a rolling basis.” Then there are the reports that Iran will be allowed to access $7 billion in fiat currency by trading drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund. He also says Japan is scheduled to transfer $3 billion to Iran.
“Money is fungible,” and even the funds that have not yet been unfrozen are likely being treated as good credit in Iran’s ledger.
The revelations do not end there. U.S. officials have also quietly acknowledged that they’ve uncapped Iranian oil exports to China. These export levels, previously held around 775,000 barrels per day under Trump’s sanctions, are now estimated to be between 1.4 and 2.2 million barrels per day. Modest estimates value this relief at $25 billion annually.
The total? $50 billion.
It’s giving a thug a loaded machine gun and expecting him not to shoot the bullets.
Less than a decade ago, the spokesman of the Izzuddin Al-Qassam Brigades publicly thanked Iran for providing the “weapons, money, and other equipment” used in attacks. Although there has been no public “thank you” to Iran from Hamas in relation to the surprise attack on Israel this past weekend, it is clear that Iran did help plan the attack. It is unlikely they stopped there. But of course, the Biden administration is hesitant to confirm this — with Republicans already alleging the White House’s ties to the attacks, they would like to avoid any evidence that confirms what most of the world suspects.
This is peeling back what is only the first layer of deception in the Biden administration’s policies.
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2023/10/11/the-u-s-money-trail-with-iran-is-worse-than-you-think/
