Republicans move to block further efforts to free up funds for Tehran
By Adam Kredo
House Republicans on Thursday filed a resolution expressing disapproval of the Biden administration’s $6 billion ransom deal with Iran amid reports of ongoing diplomacy between Washington and Tehran, in what congressional sources described as an opening salvo in the Republican-controlled chamber’s efforts to block the White House from freeing up more funds for Tehran.
The resolution condemns a range of recent diplomatic gambits that the Biden administration either hid from Congress or only admitted to lawmakers after significant pressure and delays, according to a copy that was exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The resolution’s language provides a roadmap for Republican leaders to stymie the Biden administration’s diplomacy with Tehran, particularly amid speculation the United States could free up another $3 billion in Iranian funds frozen in Japan.
The measure asks President Joe Biden to submit all deals inked with Iran to Congress, as required under the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which was crafted to give lawmakers a veto over any future deals with Tehran. The Biden administration’s hostage deal, reached earlier this month, was crafted without congressional scrutiny. In the lead-up to the hostage deal and the weeks since it was implemented, the Biden administration has kept Congress in the dark, a tactic that critics charge is both illegal and designed to hide the scope of American concessions to the Iranian regime.
“Despite an almost uninterrupted tenure of failure on the world stage, Biden’s foreign policy team maintains they are the practitioners of realpolitik and the adults in the room,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), a House Foreign Affairs Committee member who is spearheading the resolution along with 27 Republican colleagues, told the Free Beacon. “This conceit has led them straight to an Iran policy not of engagement on America’s terms, but a non-stop progression of concessions, appeasement, and now billions in ransom for hostages. All of this has made the mullahs rich, Tehran less isolated, and the world’s leading terror regime closer to a full nuclear capability. This Congress realizes it’s time to step in.”
The early support for the resolution—which is certain to gain widespread Republican support—is a sign that House Republicans are fed up with the Biden administration’s diplomacy with Tehran, which has resulted in the hardline regime gaining billions in oil profits as the United States shuns sanctions enforcement. The measure calls out Biden’s diplomatic team for quietly relaxing oil sanctions on Iran, allowing the country’s exports of illicit crude to hit a five-year high that has brought the regime more than $44 billion in revenue.
Source: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-resolution-slams-bidens-6-billion-iran-prisoner-swap/