‘Number One Terrorist State in the World’: Biden Admin Frees Up $6 Billion for Iranian Regime

On Monday, the Biden administration announced that it would unfreeze $6 billion in frozen Iranian money and release five Iranian citizens held in the U.S. in exchange for five U.S. citizens imprisoned in Iran. Lawmakers and foreign policy experts are sharply criticizing the deal, saying that it will encourage hostile foreign actors to continue to take American hostages and that the unfrozen money will likely be used to fund terrorism.

As the news spread Tuesday, an administration official told NBC News that the $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue that had previously been frozen in South Korean bank accounts would be released to the Iranian regime for “humanitarian aid only.” “It’s going to be held in a bank in Qatar and each transaction will be monitored by U.S. Treasury — transaction by transaction,” the official elaborated.

But it appears that Iran has not gotten the memo. In an interview released Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told NBC News that the regime will spend the money “wherever we need it. … [T]he needs of the Iranian people will be decided and determined by the Iranian government.”

On Tuesday’s edition of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, a 36-year Army veteran who currently serves as executive vice president at Family Research Council, emphasized that the Iranian regime is very unlikely to be engaging in “humanitarian” efforts with the money.

“[T]his is the same regime that killed 15,000 of their own people for rioting in the streets before [Qasem] Soleimani was killed,” he noted. “Does anybody believe that they really care about the needs of the Iranian people? They want a nuclear program that will put them on par with the rest of the nuclear community.”

Boykin, who was part of the Delta Force mission that attempted and failed to rescue 52 American hostages held captive at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1980, went on to share concerns about what the Iranian regime is likely to use the $6 billion for.

“First of all, they will use this to enhance their long-range missile capabilities, as well as their warhead development,” he explained. “And the second thing is that right now, al-Qaeda has a rather large presence in Iran. … [W]e have to keep our eyes on al-Qaeda because they’re still there and they’re still out to do us harm. … [T]hey funneled a lot of money into south Lebanon to where they had an al-Qaeda presence in an area that threatened the Israelis, as well.”

Boykin further observed that the deal will only serve to incentivize Iran and other hostile regimes to continue taking American hostages.

“There is absolutely no question about it. … That really is a result of the weak leadership that America has. And we have demonstrated [this] to the entire world. … I mean, our president did it again. [In] Vietnam where he was center stage, [he] told everybody he was going to bed. That’s the most powerful man in the world. That’s the guy that people expect to have answers. It’s humiliating.”

Congressman Mark Alford (R-Mo.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, echoed Boykin’s concerns. “This is the number one terrorist state in the world intent on doing away with Israel,” he underscored on “Washington Watch.” “They are ready to build a nuclear bomb to get rid of Israel.”

Alford went on to question the Biden administration’s tactics of appealing to emotion rather than truly leading.

“Look, I am very glad that five Americans will be coming back to U.S. soil,” he made clear. “Don’t get me wrong on that. [But] I think the administration tries to play off the emotions of the American people to try to get things done. I think that is wrong. Him trying to tie additional Ukraine aid now to funding relief efforts in Maui and Florida. I think that is wrong.”

“This is only going to make Iran think about taking more hostages,” Alford concluded. “And so what are we going to tell these next five families? These first five families, we got them back home, but now you are expendable because we are funding terrorism by releasing $6 billion to the worst terrorist state known to man.”