FIRST ON FOX: Amid Israel’s deadly war, a group of Republican senators led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, are urging the Biden administration to freeze Iran’s $6 billion in assets that were released to Qatar from South Korean accounts in exchange for American prisoners last month.
“To stand by and allow Iran access to these funds as Hamas infiltrates Israel and murders, rapes, and mutilates countless Israelis is unconscionable,” lawmakers wrote in a letter to Biden Monday evening.
While the administration said the funds can only be used for humanitarian aid and other resources for Iranian citizens, lawmakers argue that the “money is fungible” — meaning that a unit of currency is interchangeable with another unit of the same value.
“Your administration claims these funds are only available for humanitarian use, but money is fungible, and there is a significant risk they could be used to further efforts by Iran or Hamas against Israel,” they wrote. “Moreover, allowing $6 billion to flow into Iran’s economy, even if the purpose is for humanitarian aid, allows the Iranian regime to reallocate even more funds to supporting terrorism.”
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Israeli forces recaptured areas near the Gaza Strip that had been overrun in a Hamas mass-infiltration over the weekend.
The lawmakers added: “The State Department should immediately rescind the waivers that allowed Iranian funds to be converted and moved to more accessible bank accounts, as well as work with U.S. ally Qatar to immediately freeze the accounts containing these funds.”
A group of 20 Republicans in the upper chamber, including Blackburn and Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; John Thune, R-S.D.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; James Lankford, R-Okla.; John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., among others, signed the letter.
The report comes as nearly 800 casualties have been reported, and 11 Americans have been killed, the U.S. State Department confirmed Monday.
Blackburn told Fox News Digital in a statement that “President Biden is refusing to freeze the $6 billion ransom payment to Iran because he is afraid to admit it was a catalyst for the attacks.”
“He still has time to limit the damage,” she said, adding that Biden should immediately freeze the funds.
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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., signed a letter urging the Biden administration to freeze Iran’s $6 billion in assets that were released from South Korean accounts last month.
