Cotton said Hamas cannot operate as it does right now without Tehran's assistance
Biden’s hostage deal ‘embolded Iran’: Sen. Tom Cotton
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., criticizes the Biden administration’s policy towards Iran and discusses the war in Israel on ‘FOX & Friends.’
Sen. Tom. Cotton, R-Ark., joined "FOX & Friends" Wednesday to call out President Biden for freeing up $6 billion for Iran and said Hamas exists in the scale and brutality that it does because of Iran's support. Cotton said the Biden administration must immediately refreeze the Iranian funds.
AT LEAST 1100 DEAD, ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU DECLARES ‘WAR’ AFTER HAMAS TERRORISTS LAUNCH MASSIVE ATTACK
TOM COTTON: Iran is the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism. Hamas wouldn't exist in the scale and the brutality that it does without Iran's support. And President Biden just last month freed up $6 billion to Iran to use. Now, it may be the case that it hasn't been released yet or it's being held offshore, but that obviously emboldened Iran, that America would pay ransom for five American hostages, and it freed up $6 billion of their own money to continue to support groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. And, you know, they spent the weekend saying how not a penny of that money has been spent. Well, that's great news. That means that we can refreeze the money and not send it to Iran. I'm very worried that they refuse to answer that simple question, that it suggests that, in fact, they plan to go forward with that foolish decision and allow Iran to access that $6 billion, just like they're allowing Iran to ship tens of billions of dollars worth of oil by not enforcing sanctions. All that money is doing is fueling Iran's campaign of terror across the region.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, reviews a group of armed forces cadets during their graduation ceremony accompanied by commanders of the armed forces, in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, Oct. 10. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
The $6 billion in assets freed by President Biden has been revived in the public eye after the Iranian-backed Hamas launched deadly attacks against Israel.
On Saturday, thousands of rockets were fired into Israel and dozens of fighters infiltrated through the border. Israel quickly retaliated and ignited a war that has since killed more than 1100 people and wounded thousands more. The number of Israeli civilians and soldiers that were taken hostage is still unknown.
Republican critics have since brought up the billions of dollars in unfrozen Iranian assets in attacks against Biden for indirectly funding terrorism. On Sunday’s "The Big Weekend Show," FOX News host Joey Jones remarked that this was just the latest in the administration’s failures with Iran.
"It’s not this $6 billion being used to do this offensive operation by Hamas. It’s a posture of our administration towards Iran and Iran’s presumptive freedom to act as they will," Jones said.
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Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report
Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.
