by Kristina Wong at Breitbart
The Biden administration has reportedly approved a deal with Iran to pay the rogue regime $6 billion in exchange for five detained American citizens.
The deal, according to the Associated Press (AP), entailed the Biden administration issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without U.S. sanctions. The money would then be held in Qatar’s central bank for Iran to use, reportedly for the purchase of humanitarian goods.
In addition, the Biden administration agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the U.S.
According to the AP, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the deal until Monday, which was also 9/11, the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. suffering terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.
The deal appears to go against the U.S. policy of not paying countries to release American prisoners so as not to incentivize the behavior.
According to the report, the transfer of the $6 billion was the “critical element in the prisoner release deal.”
Some European nations reportedly “balked” at participating in the transfer, but the Biden administration’s blanket waiver was aimed at easing their concerns.
The AP noted, “The waiver is likely to draw criticism of President Joe Biden from Republicans and others that the deal will boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies.”
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