U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently proposed an amendment aimed at preventing the current administration from granting waivers to Iran for accessing escrowed accounts. Despite his efforts, the amendment was defeated in a 51-47 vote.
Cruz expressed his dissatisfaction with the decision, stating, "The Biden administration has a pathological obsession with boosting the Iranian regime and undermining Israel, and tonight Senate Democrats united to endorse that obsession." He continued, "The administration has allowed over $100 billion to flow to the Ayatollah, including through waivers that give Iran access to tens of billions of dollars overseas. Iran used and uses that money to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi militias and other terrorist groups. These groups commit mass murder, including against Americans. Hamas terrorists murdered over a thousand Jews and dozens of Americans on October 7. Iraqi terrorist groups killed three American servicemembers. My amendment would have prevented renewing those waivers. Democrats voted to keep them in place."
According to critics of the measure, it aids in funding Iran's terrorist activities. Saeed Ghasseminejad, Senior Advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said, "This waiver significantly diverges from those issued in the period of 2018-2023, offering Tehran considerably more advantages than previous waivers." Ghasseminejad added that "The Biden administration’s action serves to reward Tehran, contributing to the funding of its terrorist activities and aggressive regional policies. These actions have resulted in the deaths of several Americans, disrupted global trade, and inflicted severe damage on our national security and interests."
Matthew Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Department of State provided some context during a September press briefing about how these accounts accumulated funds under previous administrations. According to a news release he stated: "Iran has always been able under the regime set up by the previous administration to access the funds in these accounts." Miller elaborated further, "And in other places, we saw them spend down the funds in these accounts, funds that – accounts that were set up for purchases of oil, for example, from – in India or Brazil, and under the previous administration were spent down with no restrictions at all. When this administration took office, we put restrictions on these accounts to ensure that they could only be used for humanitarian purposes. However, a number of banks, despite the assurances we had given, did not want to allow – did not want to participate in transactions related to these accounts. So, it was necessary to – for the secretary to make these waivers to allow the transfer of money from these accounts, through bank accounts in Europe, ultimately to Qatar."