Congressional Republicans quickly pounced Friday on a report that the administration agreed to support lifting United Nations sanctions on two Iranian banks on the same day the countries swapped prisoners.
GOP lawmakers, fuming over a Wall Street Journal report, argue the allegations are the latest example of President Obama caving to Iran since last year’s nuclear agreement, which every Republican in Congress opposed.
Al-Monitor first reported the agreement in January, but the Journal’s Thursday report outlining secret documents signed by senior State Department official Brett McGurk stoked lawmakers’ fury.
Sen. Tom Cotton
Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called the new allegations a “blatant quid pro quo.”
“When the Senate is back in session, I will work with my colleagues to make sure administration officials—including Brett McGurk—are called to testify publicly about their role in this shameful charade,” he said in a statement.
Republicans argue the decision to lift U.N. sanctions against the banks—which weren’t set to expire until 2023—coupled with $1.7 billion paid to Iran earlier this year in foreign cash underscores that the Obama administration agreed to a “ransom” for American prisoners that were released from Iran in January.
Sen. John McCain
“Clinging to the absurd fiction that these concessions to Iran did not amount to ransom, President Obama and his Administration are treating the American people like fools. All in a day’s work of bending the knee to America’s adversaries in the name of diplomacy,” John McCain (R-ARiz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said separately that Obama “continues to put his political legacy above the safety and security of the American people.”
The fallout comes as Republicans in Congress have tried to crackdown on the Obama administration’s ability to pay cash to Iran in the future.
Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) introduced legislation this week that would block cash or precious metal payments to state sponsors of terrorism, including Iran, as well as North Korea.
The House last week passed a bills banning the U.S. from paying cash payments to Iran and requiring the Treasury Department to release a report on assets controlled by Iranian political and military leaders.
“This story grows more disturbing with each passing day,” said Speaker Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in a statement Friday said “These additional secret concessions directly jeopardize our national security, and cast further doubt on this flimsy agreement. President Obama owes the American people an immediate explanation.”
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said the agreement would help fund ballistic missiles.
“Making massive cash payments to Iran, agreeing to lift sanctions on the banks that fund Iran’s missile program, and concealing these facts from Congress and the American people are indescribably reckless,’ said Hensarling. “This makes the world an even more dangerous place.”
Source: Hill, 1Oct. 2016
