Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia said he was not a fan of President Biden’s prisoner swap deal with Iran.
“The prisoner swap, the $6 billion, I never was for that,” Mr. Manchin told Politico.
The Biden administration made a deal with Iran in September to unfreeze $6 billion in exchange for the release of five American prisoners. The unfrozen money was only allowed to be used for humanitarian-related purposes like food or other needs.
The deal was heavily criticized after Hamas, which is backed by Iran, launched a surprise attack on Israel, a major U.S. ally, on Oct. 7. Republicans and some Democrats criticized Mr. Biden for his decision to unfreeze the money.
Mr. Manchin, along with 23 other senators, introduced the Revoke Iranian Funding Act last week to rescind the licenses that authorized the release of the $6 billion to Iran.
“To demonstrate our commitment to Israel, we must hold Iran accountable for their sponsorship of Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement. “Our bipartisan legislation will halt efforts to provide billions of dollars to Iran and make sure Congress has the information to act against the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. We must do everything we can to protest our greatest ally in the Middle East.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen, Nevada Democrat, told Politico: “We want to be sure that we’re not doing anything to support Iran [at] this time or giving Hamas or Hezbollah any assets or any support, which we know that they’re both proxies of Iran.”
The White House said Iran had not accessed the $6 billion that was unfrozen in South Korea and transferred to Qatar. An agreement was reached between the U.S. and Qatar to refreeze the money.
The money “isn’t going anywhere anytime soon,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told House Democrats in a closed-door meeting earlier this month.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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