U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ) reacted to revelations on Friday that the Obama administration loosened sanctions on Iranian banks the same day American hostages were released.
McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, a “leading state sponsor of terror,” put America and its allies at risk.
“But the ‘drip-drip’ revelations of secret side deals shows that the appeasement is far worse than Congress, or the American public, ever knew,” McCaul said. “This has gone far enough. The commander-in-chief shouldn’t be prematurely opening up financial channels and sending planeloads of ransom cash to a regime with American blood on its hands. The White House has lost the trust of the American people, and Congress should work with the next president to restore it. We can start by reversing the Iran deal and scrapping this administration’s naïve policies toward our enemies.”
House Majority Leader McCarthy, meanwhile, said that it looks like the administration would have given anything to ensure Iran’s continued support of the nuclear deal.
“Not only did the Obama administration send hundreds of millions of dollars in unmarked cash in a cargo plan as ransom for American citizens back in January, there are now reports that the administration backed the lifting of UN sanctions on two Iranian banks that very same day,” McCarthy said. “And these weren’t just any banks. These banks were sanctioned for providing financing for Iran’s ballistic-missile program — a program that violates UN resolutions. Under the President’s own nuclear deal, these sanction were not supposed to be lifted for another seven years. President Obama already sold the farm to Iran to achieve this unequal deal. Giving an unreformed Iran even more is inexcusable and dangerous.”
Lance added that details of the “flawed Iran nuclear agreement and the secret side deals” are being uncovered piece by piece.
“We again see the disturbing consistency in which the U.S. heeds Iranian demands,” Lance said. “Media reports suggest that on the same day four innocent Americans were freed by Iran, the Obama administration not only agreed to a $1.7 billion cash ransom payment, but also lifted ballistic missile sanctions – despite continued illegal missile testing. The administration’s Iran policy has been disastrous every step of the way and the world is more dangerous because of it.”