Republican Claims on Hamas Attack and Iran Funds Distort the Facts
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Contrary to claims by some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, U.S. taxpayers did not indirectly fund the recent Hamas attack on Israel with Iranian money unfrozen as part of a prisoner swap with Iran in August.
The $6 billion freed up was Iranian money that was held in South Korean banks. It was released to banks in Qatar, and State Department officials say there will be oversight to ensure it can only be spent on humanitarian needs in Iran, such as food or medicine. Some have argued that money is fungible, so the release of the funds will free up Iran to fund terrorism. But none of the $6 billion has yet been spent.
What Is the Origin of the $6 Billion?
In 2018, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — and several months later imposed sanctions that included a partial ban on Iranian oil exports and on banking. The following spring, the administration imposed a total ban on oil exports.
Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that the sanctions were “targeted at the regime, not the people of Iran, who have suffered grievously under this regime” and that the administration would “maintain many humanitarian exemptions to our sanctions including food, agriculture commodities, medicine, and medical devices.”
Around that time, South Korean banks held between $6.5 billion and $9 billion from the country’s purchases of Iranian energy products. The Trump administration authorized the release of those funds for humanitarian purposes, but the banks resisted doing so, because of a fear of violating the U.S. sanctions, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy...
