Republicans are accusing President Biden of a $6 billion “dumb as a rock” prisoner swap that would allow two of Iran’s prisoners to remain in the US, saying it will only encourage more Americans to be taken hostage.
Five American prisoners were released by Iran on Monday as part of a controversial prisoner swap that will see the release of billions in Iranian assets.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called the swap orchestrated by the Biden administration a “shameful reconciliation.”
“Two of the five Iranians released as part of this terrible deal will remain in the US. Joe Biden’s shameful appeasement not only makes Iran stronger, it makes America less safe,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The senator wrote a letter to Secretary of State Blinken on Monday, obtained by DailyMail.com, demanding more information about the release of the five Iranian agents, including the two who plan to remain in the US.
Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to complain about the administration’s deal, calling Biden “dumb as a rock” for the agreement, which he said will encourage future hostage situations.
“I brought home 58 hostages from many different countries, including North Korea, and I never paid anything. They all understood that they had to let these people come home! Towards the end it became the case that countries wouldn’t even start the conversation asking for money because they knew they wouldn’t get it.’
The funds were originally frozen in South Korea by Trump in 2018.
US citizens Siamak Namazi (C-back), Emad Sharqi (below-L) and Morad Tahbaz (below-R) disembark from a Qatari jet upon arrival at Doha International Airport in Doha on September 18, 2023
From left to right, Morad Tahbaz, Siamak Namazi and Emad Sharghi walk arm in arm away from a Qatar Airways flight that took them from Tehran to Doha, Qatar, on Monday, September 18, 2023.
“Once you pay, you always pay, and MANY MORE HOSTAGES WILL BE TAKEN. Our grossly incompetent ‘leader’, Crooked Joe Biden, gave 6 BILLION DOLLARS for 5 people. Iran gave ZERO for 5. He’s as stupid as a rock!
Trump was among the first to criticize the agreement when its details became public on September 11, an ill-timed announcement that was widely panned for being insensitive.
The Biden administration insists there are “guardrails” on what Iran can spend the money on, but Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said this week that Iran would decide how the money would be spent.
Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the State Department, which limits the U.S.’s ability to provide foreign aid, defense sales and other financial restrictions.
Under the agreement, Doha agreed to monitor how Iran spends the unfrozen funds to ensure the money is spent on humanitarian goods, such as food and medicine, and not on items covered by US sanctions.
Only three of the five released American prisoners have been publicly named. They are businessmen Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Shargi, 59, and Morad Tahbaz, 67, an environmental activist who also has British citizenship.
All had been imprisoned in Iran for eight years on what the Biden administration says are unsubstantiated espionage charges.
The Iranian prisoners include Reza Sarhangpour-Kafrani, a US-Iranian citizen who was jailed in February for supplying the Central Bank of Tehran with computer equipment and technology through a front company in the UAE. are used in missiles and electronic warfare.
The White House has defended the deal and Biden praised the return of “five innocent Americans” to the United States.
“And as we welcome our fellow citizens home, I once again remind all Americans of the serious risks of traveling to Iran. U.S. passport holders should not travel there,” Biden said in a statement Monday.
“Reuniting wrongfully incarcerated Americans with their loved ones has been a priority for my administration since day one.”
But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called it a “metaphysical certainty” that the $6 billion “will be used to finance terrorism.”
‘Why? Because Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world,” he said last week on his Verdict podcast in a conversation with co-host Ben Ferguson.
“This creates an incentive for every tin pot dictator in the world to grab more Americans. They set the going rate at $1.2 billion per American hostage. This will hold more Americans hostage and to do this on the anniversary of September 11th is disgusting and dangerous.”
House Speaker Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told DailyMail.com in a statement that he is “deeply concerned” about how this detail “encourages future hostage situations.”
“While the government claims these funds are limited to humanitarian transactions, we all know that transactions are difficult to monitor and money is fungible. There is no doubt that this deal will free up money for Iran’s malign activities,” McCaul continued.
Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to complain about the administration’s deal, calling Biden “dumb as a rock” for the agreement, which he says will encourage future hostage situations
Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Shargi, who were released in a prisoner swap deal between the US and Iran, arrive at Doha International Airport, Qatar on September 18, 2023
Iranian prisoner exchanges Reza Sarhang Pour and Mehrdad Moein Ansari at Doha Airport in Doha, Qatar, September 18, 2023
He warned all Americans not to travel to Iran because the “risks are far too great.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., blasted Biden for timing the prisoner swap announcement on the Sept. 11 anniversary.
“The United States should never finance terrorism. Yet on the anniversary of September 11, Joe Biden handed over more than $6 billion to Iran to reward the regime for wrongfully detaining American citizens.”
In a statement to DailyMail.com, she said it is “also concerning that Biden is allowing two Iranian prisoners released from prison to remain in the US.”
“Under this government, our enemies are getting stronger.”
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., – chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee – has called the deal a “slap in the face” to the families of 9/11 victims.
“President Biden should be ashamed,” he wrote on X last week.