Over 100 House Republicans have already co-sponsored a bill brought by Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), to rescind a $6 billion tranche of funds President Joe Biden ordered released to Iran as part of a prisoner exchange last month.
The bill to rescind the funds comes amid allegations that Iran helped the Hamas terrorist group plan a breach of the Gaza barrier and carry out a widespread attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“A month ago on the anniversary of 9/11, the Biden Administration unfroze $6 billion and made it available to Iran—the world’s largest state sponsor of terror—while Iran was helping Hamas plan the horrific terror attacks on Israel,” Mr. Pfluger
said on Thursday, reiterating the claim of Iranian involvement in last week’s attack.
Thus far, the Biden administration and the Israeli government have
not identified any specific evidence that Iran supported the Oct. 7 attack, though the Islamic regime is a well-known financial backer of Palestinian terror groups including Hamas.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
has also denied claims that the specific $6 billion in funds unfrozen for Iran during last month’s prisoner exchange could have been used, stating none of the funds have been withdrawn yet from the Iranian side.
The Biden administration granted clemency to five Iranian nationals held in the United States on suspicions of violating U.S. sanctions and other criminal charges and began transferring the $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds in exchange for the release of five U.S. citizens held in Iran.
During a White House press briefing on Thursday, National Security Counsel spokesman John Kirby
said the $6 billion in funds were still in the transfer process and remained in a bank account controlled by the government of Qatar.
Despite the assurances from Biden administration officials, lawmakers from both the Democrat and Republican parties have already called for the Biden administration
to take executive action to refreeze the funds. Not relying on the Biden administration’s assurances, Mr. Pfluger drafted his own bill, H.R. 5947, to freeze the funds through a legislative act.
“This $6 billion will be used to backfill the money that Iran is paying to Hamas if we don’t act,” Mr. Pfluger said. “The Administration’s supposed ‘quiet understanding’ with Qatar, also a host country of Hamas, is a disaster waiting to happen. Since the Administration refuses to permanently freeze the funds, Congress will.”
Among the bill’s 106 original cosponsors is Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)
“The Biden Administration first downplayed Iran’s role in Hamas’ attacks and then, astonishingly, tried to claim the $6 billion they gave to Iran has nothing to do with it,” Mr. Hern said on Thursday. “Appeasing Iran does not work, it just gives them more resources to finance terrorism against Israel and cause chaos in the region. Iran provides over $100 million a year to Hamas; the Biden administration just gave $6 billion to Hamas’ biggest backer.”
During his White House press briefing comments on Thursday, Mr. Kirby reiterated the Biden administration’s assurances that the $6 billion in unfrozen Iranian funds can only be used for limited humanitarian purposes and that the Qatari bank account was originally set up by President Donald Trump’s administration with certain oversight features in place. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has previously cast doubt on these humanitarian assurances, claiming the Iranian regime will have the final say on where the $6 billion in unfrozen funds will go and said Iran is
willing to spend them “wherever we need.”Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.), another prominent co-sponsor of Mr. Pfluger’s bill, noted the Iranian president’s comments on Thursday, as he brought a bipartisan group of nearly 100 lawmakers together on a
letter demanding that President Biden refreeze the funds.
“Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi put it plainly that the funds would be used ‘wherever we need it,’” the bipartisan letter states. “Iran’s ‘need’ is Israel’s destruction.”
For now, Mr. Pfluger’s bill and any House bills are unlikely to make much progress without a House speaker to set the legislative agenda. Eight Republicans and 208 Democrats voted to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the speakership last week, and the House Republican majority
has seen setbacks in selecting a new speaker.
