The Iranian people’s “blood” is on President Joe Biden’s hands, and his administration is responsible for “financing terrorism,” according to Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, who accused the president of paying “ransom” after the Iranian regime transferred five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions in unfrozen assets.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Thursday, Rep. Tenney addressed the matter, insisting the U.S. government “should never negotiate with terrorists, let alone fund them.”
“By giving the Iranian mullahs $6 billion, the Biden administration is responsible for financing terrorism and fueling the continued oppression of the Iranian people,” she asserted.
Iranians set an Israeli flag and a cartoon picture of President Joe Biden on fire during a rally marking al-Quds Day (Jerusalem) day, in the street at the capital Tehran, on April 29, 2022. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
According to Tenney, “not only does this show the Biden administration will bow down to terrorists, but encourages terroristic regimes to kidnap more Americans for the prospect of a payoff.”
“Mark my words; this ransom will not be used for humanitarian purposes but will be used to fund terrorist organizations like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and will continue to be used to imprison, torture, and murder the Iranian people,” she argued.
“The blood of the Iranian people is on President Biden’s hands,” she concluded.
Tenney’s comments come in response to a reported deal with Iran struck by the Biden administration to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian financial assets and release a “handful” of Iranian nationals jailed for violating U.S. sanctions in exchange for five Americans taken prisoner by Iran on highly dubious charges of espionage.
“Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea will be unblocked and transferred to Qatar,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations stated, apparently referring to the $6 billion sum.
U.S. sources who spoke to the far-left New York Times publication and Reuters confirmed the financial aspects of the deal.
The deal follows massive protests that have swept Iran following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the Islamic theocracy’s notorious “morality police” for violating strict requirements for women to keep their heads covered in public.
Amini was reportedly abducted and killed by the force for having exposed some hair from beneath her mandatory Islamic headscarf.
Iranians who live in Brazil protest against the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who died in Iran while in police custody, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
Since then, a slew of incidents involving abuses and even deaths at the hands of the regime have been documented amid an ongoing clampdown on protests, with clips circulating showing Iranian regime officers brutally assaulting protesters.
In response, criticisms of the Islamic regime and its tactics have continued to grow.
In May, over a hundred former world leaders penned an open letter to the heads of the U.S., Canada, the E.U., and the U.K. calling for the regime in Tehran to be held accountable for its long-running crimes against humanity.
Among the more than 100 signatories of the letter, including 50 former presidents and 47 former prime ministers, were former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Italian ex-premier Matteo Renzi.
That same month, the United States announced sanctions against Iranians accused of plotting to assassinate former U.S. government officials, dual U.S. and Iranian nationals, and dissidents.
In October, representatives of Iran’s parliament in exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claimed Iran is currently witnessing a revolution “in the making,” asserting that despite the crimes and “savagery” committed by the regime’s “suppressive forces” — including the killing and torturing of protesters during current protests against the Islamic regime by angry citizens — the Islamic Republic is no longer capable of containing the current uprising.
Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide, has long viewed the United States as a principal antagonist and has frequently accused the U.S. of inciting protesters in a bid to “destabilize” the region.
Previously, Iranian Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi affirmed that America is the Iranian republic’s top enemy, while the Islamic Republic’s “supreme leader” has boasted of having “defeated” the United States, as he assured a crowd of supporters that their “Death to America!” chant would yet be fulfilled as a “new order” would relegate the U.S. to isolation.
I will continue standing with the brave people of Iran as they demand their rights and freedom against a brutal theocratic regime. The world must unite and hold the regime in Iran accountable for its abhorrent actions against its people. pic.twitter.com/vJDu4Yy3oR
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) December 4, 2022
Last year, Tenney, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an outspoken voice in Congress for Iranians fighting for freedom from the repressive Islamic Republic, called on Congress to stand with the “brave” Iranian people following the Republican-led House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ unanimous passing of her bipartisan resolution that “commends the courageous Iranians protesting in support of their freedoms” while “condemning the Iranian regime’s violent suppression of their rights.”
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
