Summary of what this means. In September 2023, the Biden administration agreed to release $7bn of frozen assets to the Islamic regime in Iran. This was part of a ransom deal where 5 American prisoners were released in exchange for the money and 5 Iranian prisoners held in the U.S. Let’s be clear first of all, a 1:1 prisoner exchange could have been secured without any transfer of funds, and indeed was the case under the prior Trump administration where American citizens Xiyue Wang and Michael White were safely returned home as part of a prisoner swap. The $7bn was superfluous, meaning it was likely a symbolic gesture to lay the groundwork for another nuclear deal with the regime in Iran. Back then, we warned that this money would not be used for “humanitarian relief” as promised (and even if it was, money is fungible so that’s irrelevant), and that it would only support the IRGC & its proxies in its domestic and regional terrorism. In October 2023, just one month after the deal, Hamas attacks Israel and the U.S. re-freezes the $7bn of assets (presumably having an “aha” moment a little too late) which now sits in Qatar but hasn’t been distributed yet to the regime. So for the past year, the money has still not been released. Per the below story, the regime’s president has just returned from a visit to Qatar announcing that they’ve come to a “good understanding” on the distribution of that money. That money—enough to start a country with—is going to the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world at the precise moment that their financial strangulation is most critical. https://bird.makeup/@rich_goldberg/1843045067139006593
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