Republicans, some Dem House lawmakers urge Biden to refreeze $6B in Iranian assets amid Hamas attacks
EXCLUSIVE: House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher led a bipartisan group of nearly 100 lawmakers in the House on Wednesday to urge President Biden to refreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets released last month in light of Hamas’s deadly war of terror against Israel.
Gallagher, R-Wis., led a group of 96 House Republicans and two House Democrats, Rep. Donald Davis, D-N.C., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., in sending a letter to Biden. The lawmakers said they were “ready to work” with the president and would support his administration’s “robust and unwavering” support for Israel’s security.
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“Denying the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Tehran access to the means by which it can export chaos is an essential step in this direction,” they wrote.
President Joe Biden speaks from the White House to reaffirm commitments to Israel. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In September, The Biden administration struck a deal with Iran to swap prisoners and release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds.
As part of the deal, Iran released five American citizens detained in Iran, and the United States released five Iranian citizens detained in the United States. The deal also created a full exemption to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar without fear of violating U.S. sanctions. Administration officials say the funds can only be used for “humanitarian needs such as food and medicine.”
The unfreezing of the money came nearly a month before Hamas terrorists launched a massive, deadly attack on Israel over the weekend.
At least 22 Americans were killed in the terrorist attacks. An unknown number of Americans are being held hostage by Hamas, US officials say.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., is leading a bipartisan group of nearly 100 House lawmakers to urge President Biden to refreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets that were freed last month in light of Hamas’ deadly terror war Israel. (Reuters/Elisabeth Franz/File)
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“Your administration recently released $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran in exchange for American hostages. Our concern—a concern that has become more acute in light of Iran’s support for a war of terror against Israel that already amounts to the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—is that the Iranian regime will use every available financial tool to further fuel this war against Israel, fund other terrorist proxies in the region such as Hezbollah, which export genocidal terrorism to Iran and accelerate Iran’s nuclear strike [buildup],” Gallagher and the group of lawmakers wrote. “Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has made it clear that the funds will be used ‘wherever we need them.’
They added: Iran’s “need” is the destruction of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was “at war” and vowed that the attackers would pay an “unprecedented price”.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, inspects a group of armed forces cadets during their graduation ceremony in Tehran, Iran, on October 10, 2023. (Office of Iran’s Supreme Leader via AP)
But lawmakers quoted Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei as saying: “This cancer [Israel] they will definitely be eradicated, God willing, at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region.”
Gallagher and lawmakers also pointed to reports of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) involvement in planning and giving the “final green light” to Hamas’ war of terror against Israel, saying it “requires an immediate response.”
“Left unchecked, the Iranian regime’s continued support for terrorist groups and attempts to wipe Israel off the map will only become more brazen and more destabilizing for the region,” they wrote.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they have “seen no evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.” However, Gallagher said “senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials claim that IRGC officers have been working with Hamas since August to prepare for air, land and sea incursions into Israel.”
“This, combined with years of arms and training from Iran, has allowed Hamas to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian targets and invade communities, killing and maiming hundreds of innocent people,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher and the lawmakers also pointed to the United Nations mission to Iran, which “said that the measures taken by Hamas — which included rape, kidnapping, torture, bombings and assassinations — “constitute a perfectly legitimate defense” and that the regime “strongly stands by unwavering support for Palestine.'”
“To prevent Iran from accessing tens of billions of dollars to further subsidize this terrorism, we ask that you take immediate action,” they wrote, urging the administration to begin by “freezing the $6 billion provided in exchange for hostages, as well as $10 billion in released funds based in Iraq, and withholds all releases, general licenses and specific licenses for the use of such funds.”
“In September, the State Department said we have the ability to freeze [the released funds] again if necessary,” they wrote. “This weekend’s events demonstrate that need.”
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Lawmakers also urged Biden to fully implement sanctions on Iranian oil exports to China, which they said “have not been implemented for months, even as China’s crude oil imports from Iran set a new record.”
They also demanded that the administration “prevent Iran from accessing additional Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund, through which they have quick access to $6.7 billion, and block further funding to Iran in upcoming packages from SPT”.
The letter to the president comes after both Senate Democrats and Republicans urged him to do the same.
Sen. John TesterD-Mont., posted Tuesday about his support for freezing $6 billion in Iranian assets on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
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“As U.S. intelligence officials continue to investigate terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas, we must reconsider our options to hold Iran accountable for any support they may have provided,” the senator said. “At the very least, we should immediately freeze $6 billion in Iranian assets and explore other financial instruments at our disposal.”
US officials have said that “not one dollar” of the money has been spent, but critics say the funds could be diverted elsewhere.
Iran is a known supporter of Hamas and has praised the attacks on Israel. The State Department has said in the past that Iran provides about $100 million a year to Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Greg Wenner and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
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