OPINION:
As the nation marked 22 years since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Biden used the occasion to again lie about his personal story, sparking outrage.
That wasn’t the worst of it, though. His foreign policy team used the solemn day to announce a deal with the world’s deadliest and most prolific state sponsor of terrorism.
Five Americans held hostage by Iran traded for five unidentified high-value Iranian prisoners and $6 billion.
What do the liberal foreign policy think tankers believe this money will be used for? Women’s empowerment programs? Climate change initiatives? Electric vehicle charging stations? Maybe they’ll plant trees with it, Mr. President.
It will fund terrorism. It will fund weapons production that will be used against Ukraine and threaten Israel. It will free up more resources to feed a network of Islamic terrorist groups that stretch into Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Of course, the administration will say the money is a Qatari restricted bank account so it can be monitored, but everyone knows money is fungible. More money means more money for terror operations.
Pallets of cash to the mullahs was President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy. After eight years of President George W. Bush killing terrorists in dozens of countries, the Obama administration’s reversal of posture created greater instability in the Middle East and North Africa.
Mr. Obama abandoned Iraq to the influence of Iran and Islamic terror groups. He embraced the Arab Spring as a victory over Islamism while running into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood. He negotiated a sweetheart deal with the mullahs that would provide an easy on-ramp for them to obtain nuclear capabilities, even as they were pledging death to America and Israel.
Mr. Obama’s other desperate Iran deal in the waning days of his presidency exchanged four prisoners for $400 million. He would ultimately allow access to $1.7 billion entirely in cash to the regime, much of it interest on money we’ve held since the Islamic Revolution.
When pressed about the massive cash payments, one Obama Treasury official, who should get some kind of spin doctor award, said the payments were necessary because U.S. sanctions were so effective, we couldn’t transfer the money. The Obama payments were also made in non-U.S. currency so the money couldn’t be tracked.
Enter President Biden, whose team has given us the largest ground war in Europe since World War II, and he says, “hold my Bud Light.”
In Mr. Biden’s time in office, the Iraqis have released $10 billion in formerly frozen assets to Iran. The United States could have stopped that transaction, but it didn’t.
Mr. Biden handed Afghanistan to an Islamic terrorist organization. He even gave them $7 billion of U.S. military equipment on the way out.
According to Mr. Biden, we couldn’t deter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine because it would have started World War III. Now, after tens of thousands have been killed, we’re giving billions to one of Russia’s closest allies, which will use that money to build military equipment to kill more civilians and destroy U.S. military hardware.
Mr. Biden’s latest Iran deal is also another slap in the face for the only functioning liberal democracy and our greatest ally in the region. Israel now continues its standoff with the mullahs who have billions more to leverage against them.
To put the $6 billion in perspective, Mr. Biden’s military assistance to Israel for fiscal 2023 was $3.3 billion plus $500 million for Iron Dome defense systems. This year, he transferred more resources to Tehran than to Jerusalem.
The left will explain this away by saying that it isn’t our money. We prevented the terrorist regime from accessing frozen assets.
But cash is king. The Iranian leaders are brutal criminals who have waged war not only on their own people but also against people in dozens of countries. They’re not stopping.
Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, remnants of the Islamic State, and other groups will benefit from this deal. Mr. Biden’s help in funding their operations is akin to being an accessory to mass murder.
To make it even more idiotic, the administration is now offering a security guarantee to Saudi Arabia while dumping cash into that nation’s biggest security threat: a nuclear Iran.
The Middle East Media Research Institute reported that $15.7 billion has been paid to Iran since the 1979 revolution in exchange for prisoners.
No American hostage’s freedom is worth funding terrorism.
President Biden’s Iran deal imperils not only national security but also the safety of every American living abroad and the cause of defeating Islamic terrorism in all its forms.
No more ransom. We don’t negotiate with terrorists. We eliminate them.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax and the author of “Tough Sell: Fighting the Media War in Iraq.”
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