Americans believe the Biden administration was wrong to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets in a prisoner swap deal last month, according to an exclusive DailyMail.com poll.
The issue has been in the headlines all week after the Iranian proxy of Hamas launched a bloody attack on Israel.
The money was quietly put off limits again this week after Republicans slammed the administration for being too soft on Iran.
About 43 percent of Americans in our poll said the release of seized assets was wrong, while 29 percent said it was right.
The results come from a poll of 1,000 Americans conducted Tuesday through Thursday by JL Partners.
The results come from a poll of 1,000 Americans conducted Tuesday through Thursday by JL Partners and have a margin of error of 3.1 points in each case.
President Joe Biden’s administration has come under fire all week amid allegations that a prisoner swap deal could have let President Ibrahim Raisi’s regime get its hands on $6 billion
“If Biden had not re-frozen Iranian funds yesterday, he would have faced serious public pressure to do so,” James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, said on Friday.
“Americans believe it was wrong, especially Republicans and the very important group of independent voters, and a majority of Americans believe that Iran was probably or definitely behind the attacks.
“In the coming weeks and months, the American public clearly expects an aggressive response from Tehran.”
Iranian oil revenues had been frozen in Seoul since 2019 after Washington imposed new sanctions under President Donald Trump.
But the money was transferred to bank accounts in Qatar as part of a prisoner swap last month that freed five Americans held by Tehran. The terms meant it could not be directly accessed by the Iranian government and could only be used to meet humanitarian needs.
The money came back into focus when Hamas, which is funded by Iran, launched its deadly attack.
Tehran’s history of supporting the terrorist group made it “complicit” in the massacre, according to US officials.
Trump was among those who claimed there was a link between the $6 billion and the attack.
“Unfortunately, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports say came from the Biden administration,” he said.
An Israeli flag flies over body bags of more than 20 dead Hamas militants with the word “terrorist” written in Hebrew, in a field in Kibbutz Be’eri, where dozens of civilians were killed. US officials say Iran’s history of support for Hamas makes it ‘complicit’ in massacre
JL Partners polled 1,000 Americans from October 10-12 to gauge their views on Biden’s response to the massacre in Israel. Only a quarter said they did well
House Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise said: “The Biden administration must be held accountable for appeasing these Hamas terrorists, including handing over billions of dollars to them and their Iranian backers.”
There is no way the money could have been used by Hamas. And other Republicans suggested that last month’s deal could have emboldened Iran and its proxies.
But by Thursday, administration officials were informing lawmakers that the money had been blocked again.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told House Democrats that Qatar had agreed to block Iran from accessing the money, according to multiple reports.
The issue is one reason only 25% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the Israel crisis.
In contrast, some 37 percent said they had handled the events poorly according to our poll.
Biden is already under intense pressure for the way he responded after Hamas terrorists went on a rampage across Israel last Saturday morning, killing 1,200 people.
He said he got up as early as 7:30 a.m., hours after the massacre began, and then organized a barbecue the next day.
On Monday, with Israel still reeling from the shock, the White House marked Columbus Day, telling reporters before noon that the president would hold no public events.
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