Biden Handing $10 Billion To Iran Despite Concerns
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN/WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – The Biden administration has extended a U.S. sanction waiver that could provide $10 billion in energy proceeds to Iran despite its links to a massacre in Israel and attacks against American troops.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed the 120-day waiver extension, which was transmitted to Congress on Tuesday, U.S. officials said.
The move was already condemned by critics who believe it will reward Iran at a time when the Islamic Republic is under pressure to rein in antisemitism and halt its effort to destroy Israel.
Tehran is also openly supporting groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which are both named as terrorist organizations by the West.
Yet, under the waiver, Tehran will have potential access to $10 billion in Iraqi payments for Iranian electricity.
The money is currently held in escrow accounts in Iraq, but the waiver allows Baghdad to maintain its Iranian energy imports without fear of U.S. penalties for violating sanctions on Iran.
The waiver extension will also allow the Iranian regime to transfer electricity payments to accounts in Oman. They can then be converted to other currencies for the Islamic Republic to purchase non-sanctioned products, according to officials familiar with the deal.
IDENTICAL WAIVER
While identical to one issued in July, the latest waiver comes amid Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. troops through proxies and over a month after Tehran-supported “terror group Hamas” killed 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, critics say.
“It is absolutely outrageous the Biden administration continues to find ways to send Iran money — especially from Iraq, where the same Iranian-backed militias who are targeting American forces increasingly run the show and are helping keep Iraq addicted to Iranian energy,” said Representative Mike Waltz, a Republican from Florida.
Waltz referred to the 41 attacks by Iran-backed groups against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since October 17, including a multi-rocket attack targeting U.S. forces at al-Shaddadi in Syria.
About half of the strikes occurred after October 26, following the strikes the U.S. conducted against facilities linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian-backed militias.
There have been no injuries in the attacks since the first set of U.S. retaliatory strikes, but 46 service members sustained injuries in attacks between October 17 and October 21, the military says.
Of the 46, 25 service members were reportedly diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, and two of the diagnoses were severe enough to require follow-on care in Germany. The Pentagon described the 21 other injuries as “minor injuries.”
There are about 900 U.S. service members in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State group.
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