Tillis, Wicker join Senate colleagues in seeking answers to extended Iran sanctions waiver

As Israel continues to battle Iranian-backed Hamas, U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and their Republican colleagues want to know why the Biden administration recently decided to extend an Iran sanctions waiver.

“Your administration has inadvisably taken steps to unlock tens of billions of dollars for Iran to fund additional terrorist activities that directly threaten American lives,” wrote the lawmakers in a Nov. 30 letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Specifically, the senators demanded answers regarding the Biden administration’s Nov. 13 waiver providing Iran access to approximately $10 billion.

Among the 23 other lawmakers who joined Sen. Wicker and Sen. Tillis in signing the letter were U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Hoeven (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Deb Fischer (R-NE).  

“On August 18, 2023, we wrote to express our concern over the administration’s decision to release $6 billion worth of frozen Iranian assets in exchange for the return of American detainees,” they wrote. “Understanding the grave error of the unfreezing of Iranian assets and the danger this action poses to U.S. lives and interests, it is therefore alarming to hear that the administration is doubling down on its appeasement strategy by actively working to provide Iran with access to billions more in funding.”

Combined with the $10 billion waiver extension, the administration has provided Iran with access to roughly $16 billion in assets over the past four months, according to their letter, which noted that such assets could instead be used to offset the cost of the Iranian regime’s increase in destabilizing activities across the region. 

“A strong signal of deterrence — utilizing military, economic, and diplomatic tools — is needed if we want to stop the attacks against U.S. personnel and prevent the war in Gaza from expanding into a protracted regional conflict,” the senators wrote. “Unfortunately, the administration’s military and economic responses to Iran and its proxies have not only been disproportionate, they appear to be completely disjointed.”

The senators requested that the State, Treasury, and Defense departments provide them with a classified assessment on the administration’s plan to deter Iranian aggression and prevent the escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

The assessment, they wrote, should include an estimation of how Iran has already leveraged and could leverage the tens of billions in assets it now has access to.