Last week President Joe Biden announced the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian regime assets and the release of five Iranian prisoners in exchange for 5 five American hostages. White House officials claim the new infusion of cash is designated for humanitarian purposes and rejecting the classification the deal was a ransom payment.
.@JacquiHeinrich: "Didn't they also get five Iranians?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 13, 2023
JOHN KIRBY: "Yeah."@JacquiHeinrich: "Then why did we need to add $6 billion dollars on top of that?!"
JOHN KIRBY: "This is the deal that we were able to strike." pic.twitter.com/7hy36Mj0Eg
The move has been widely criticized as an incentive for the Iranian regime, and other adversarial governments, to kidnap Americans. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill and former Trump admimitration officials warned the cash will only fuel bad behavior and terrorist attacks.
President Biden’s embarrassing appeasement of Iran only endangers Americans and our allies. My op-ed: https://t.co/pM3fXFr4P0
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) September 14, 2023
Who would have guessed that Iran would announce a new drone only days after receiving $6b in ransom from the US? We literally provided massive financial support to the world's largest state sponsor of terror. https://t.co/OlhBQZkqN3
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) September 17, 2023
During remarks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi proved Biden's critics correct and threatened to assassinate American officials.
Monday: America frees $6 Billion for transfer to Tehran
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 20, 2023
Tuesday: the Butcher of Tehran, standing at the UN podium in New York, threatens to assassinate former US officials pic.twitter.com/qWMGQO0SUP
Currently, the Iranian government has bounties on the heads of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former Iran Envoy Brian Hook and a number of Iranian-American activists living in the United States. Many of them require 24 hour security.