Top Republican House members gave a cold reception Sunday to the tentative agreement with Iran to free five imprisoned Iranian-Americans — fearing it’ll lead to the Biden administration reviving the US nuclear deal with Tehran.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner noted on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that Congress has yet to be briefed on specifics of the proposed prisoner deal, which would free up $6 billion in Iranian assets from South Korea.
“The administration has signaled that the release of these detainees is part of a broader negotiation with respect to reinstating some controls on the nuclear weapons and enrichment programs of Iran, dating back to the JCPOA,” the Ohio Republican said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
JCPOA — also known as the Iran nuclear deal — was brokered under the Obama administration and imposed temporary limits on Tehran’s program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Then-President Donald Trump ultimately withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.
“The concern is that the New York Times has reported that the [Biden] administration may be pursuing an informal deal as opposed to the formal deal that we had before that had congressional oversight,” Turner warned Sunday.
“We don’t want a secret deal with Iran,” he said.
Under the recent proposed agreement, Iran will release the American detainees in exchange for access to its $6 billion in assets and the freedom of an unknown number of Iranian nationals detained in the US. --->READ MORE HERE
Iran won’t let five US hostages leave the country until nearly $6 billion of what critics blast as a “ransom” payment hits regime bank accounts, state-backed media reported Friday.
Mohammad Jamshidi, deputy chief of staff for political affairs to Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi, said billions in sanctioned oil assets held by South Korea are being released to the accounts — but that US prisoners won’t be freed until the funds are fully transferred, a source told the Islamic Republic News Agency.
“It is important to note that prisoners sought by the United States still remain in Iran,” the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry said in a Friday statement after acknowledging the transfers had begun.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Officials in Tehran moved the American hostages to house arrest Thursday as part of an agreement that will reportedly release several Iranians in US prisons and let the regime use its unfrozen funds for humanitarian needs through an account at the central bank of Qatar.
However, a top advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team posted online that Tehran would have “full and direct access to its released assets.”
“[T]here will be no Qatari companies involved, Iranian banks will have full control, and they can purchase goods and services without any limitation or restriction,” Seyed Mohammad Marandi declared on X, formerly known as Twitter. --->READ MORE HEREFollow link below to a relevant story:
+++++South Korea Has ‘No Information’ About Joe Biden’s Reported $6 Billion Payoff to Iran+++++
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