In March, the Biden administration reissued a $10 billion Iran sanctions waiver, unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access hard currency from Iraq’s continued electricity purchases from Iran.
Following the sanctions waiver, several Republicans sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to hold the administration accountable and demand transparency for the American people on payments to Iran.
U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer, member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, joined Ranking Member Tim Scott in sending the letter, expressing two primary concerns which include making restricted funds more accessible to the Ayatollah’s regime, at a time when Iranian-backed aggression in the region is at a peak, and the administration appears to be disregarding congressional intent that any payments made to Iran remain severely restricted.
The senators wrote, “It is unfathomable that this is the context in which the administration determined that it was within the national security interest of the United States to waive sanctions on restricted Iranian funds, making them more accessible to the regime. If we want to actually restore deterrence in the region, those funds should be placed further out of Iran’s reach, not closer.”
“The United States should be restricting Iran’s access to currency abroad. Instead, your administration is expanding it, all while continuing to share limited information on a strategy to restore deterrence in the Middle East with Congress or the American people.”
Other co-signers included senators Katie Britt from Alabama, Ted Budd, North Carolina, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Texas, Tom Cotton, Arkansas, Mike Crapo and Todd Young, Indiana, Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Pete Ricketts, Nebraska, and Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, Florida.