Biden’s dangerous deal with Iran

The Biden administration’s folly in concluding a prisoner swap deal that is expected to reward cash-strapped Iran with $US6bn or more shows it learned nothing from Barack Obama’s wrongheaded “cash-for-hostages” agreement with the terrorist-supporting regime. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described last week’s removal of five Iranian-Americans from jail in Tehran to house arrest, pending their release, as the “beginning of the end of their nightmare”. Welcome as that is, it raises the question “At what price?’’, given the ayatollahs’ record of using extortionist payola to boost funding for terrorism.

The deal the Biden White House is finalising hinges on the transfer of $US6bn to $US7bn, depending on exchange rates, in Iranian oil revenues frozen in South Korea since 2019 when the Trump administration imposed sanctions on such transactions. The intention is to convert the money from South Korean won to euros and transfer it to the small Gulf state of Qatar, which will be responsible for its administration. According to Mr Blinken, the impending windfall for the ayatollahs, as they continue to support terrorist groups, pursue their nuclear ambitions aimed at the destruction of Israel and persecute Iranian women for not wearing hijabs cannot be regarded as sanctions relief. The funds, he said, will be held in escrow, with Qatar to ensure they are used “for humanitarian purposes” only.

Really? Postage stamp-sized Qatar to call the shots against regional bullyboy Iran and tell it what it can or cannot do with the stash of money at a time of deep economic crisis in Tehran because of sanctions? Few will share Mr Blinken’s confidence, especially after what happened under the Obama administration. Then, a windfall of billions of dollars, including $US1.8bn in cash made available to the ayatollahs, led to an upsurge in terrorism by Iran’s proxy groups across the world, in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza (against Israel), Afghanistan and Iraq. That amount included $US400m delayed as “leverage” until US hostages were allowed to leave Iran, setting a precedent for the Biden administration’s deal.

Republican congressman Ed Royce, chairman of the house foreign relations committee at the time, condemned the Obama deal, warning that “sending the world’s leading state sponsor of terror pallets of untraceable cash’’ was terrible policy and reckless, putting bigger targets on the backs of Americans. At the weekend, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the US$6bn in Joe Biden’s deal “will be in the hands of (Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi) the butcher of Tehran”, creating an incentive for further hostage-taking. “I know the narrative that the funds will be handled by a third-party country and used only for humanitarian purposes,” he said. “But we have all seen this bad joke before.’’

The White House is being naive in ignoring concerns about a regime that has never hesitated to take hostages for cash. As Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Arrangements that do not dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure will not stop its nuclear program and will only provide it with funds that will go to terrorist elements.”