US Lawmakers Decry Biden’s 'Dangerous' Secrecy On Iran
US lawmakers convened Wednesday to examine the Biden administration’s secrecy and “failures” on Iran, calling it a “dangerous” strategy.
US lawmakers convened Wednesday to examine the Biden administration’s secrecy and “failures” on Iran, calling it a “dangerous” strategy.
The Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs – part of the House Oversight Committee – held the hearing to discuss Washington’s secret dealings with the regime, including Tehran’s nuclear program and negotiations for the release of American hostages in exchange for billions of dollars as well as the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of the Special Envoy on Iran, Robert Malley.
In his opening remarks, Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis) emphasized that the Biden Administration has failed to be transparent with Congress and the American people on talks and actions regarding the Iranian regime. He condemned the White House for a sanctions waiver as part of its prisoner swap on the anniversary of September 11, freeing up $6 billion for “the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
Decrying the 2015 nuclear deal signed under the Obama administration, Grothman said “the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was touted by the left as the fix-all to the Iranian nuclear dilemma. In reality, it did little to reign in the Iranian regime while rewarding it with literal pallets of cash.”
He continued that the Trump administration withdrew the US from the deal “due to Iran’s continued bolstering of its ballistic missile program and its funding of terrorist groups around the globe” and that the current administration has failed to uphold its pledge to return the US to the JCPOA. “Instead, the administration has negotiated in secret and has failed to be transparent” despite the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act’s expansive disclosure requirements.
“In March 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency detected enriched uranium particles at 83.7 percent, prompting great concern as weapons grade uranium is enriched at 90 percent or higher. In addition to its nuclear program, Iran continues work to perfect its ballistic missile program. In May of this year, Iran unveiled its 4th generation liquid fuel ballistic missile, which can carry a 1,500-kilogram warhead around 1,200 miles,” he pointed out.
Grothman highlighted that “Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, or the IRGC, continues to provide arms, training, and financial support to militias and terrorist organizations in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen,” mentioning that the IRGC provides the terrorist organization Hezbollah $700 million a year in assistance.
“Since President Biden took office, Iran or its proxies have attacked US forces in the Middle East almost 100 times,” he noted.
On the prisoner swap deal, he said the White House claims the $6 billion could only be used for humanitarian purposes but Iran says it will decide how to spend the money. He stressed the necessity to “ensure that the increase in ransom payments does not incentivize hostile nations like Iran to continue to kidnap American citizens.”
Referring to the suspension of Iran envoy, Robert Malley, which he called “highly unusual”, he said Malley's career has been marked by a “long history of appeasement toward adversaries of the US, and mentioned his repeated meetings with the terrorist organization Hamas under the Obama administration and Iran’s former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif “to undermine President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran.”
Speaking as one of the expert witnesses at the hearing, Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) President Michael Makovsky said the Biden administration has not articulated any strategic goal toward Iran, elaborating that in its National Security Strategy, the administration only outlined a series of policies.
He noted that the administration endlessly pursued diplomacy at the exclusion of other tools, an approach which “even enriches and strengthens the regime ... The administration accepts the regime’s existence, works with it and mutes criticism of its awful human rights abuse.”
The US only retaliated to four of Iran’s nearly 100 attacks on US forces in the region, he said, adding that “Iran has even retaliated against US forces for Israeli actions because it fears Israel and not America." So laxly enforced are the sanctions that is has resulted in a triple rise in Iranian oil export revenues in 2023 in comparison to 2020, Makovsky stressed.
Richard Goldberg -- from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies – described the recent unacknowledged deal with Iran as “a perilous arrangement negotiated in secret, without congressional oversight or review, in breach of statutory requirements.” Secret talks took place against the backdrop of continued attempts by the regime in Tehran to assassinate former US officials and kidnap or kill Iranian Americans on US soil, he added.
He said that it defies logic to believe that the US is paying $6 billion for five people, making it “a historic hostage ransom payment.” Considering other concessions given to Iran such as a waiver of $10 billion of Iran’s oil money blocked in Iraq and a special drawing rights of the IMF for fiat currency of about $7 billion, and $25 billion of oil revenues through a lax enforcement of sanctions that has led to record high export of oil to China, “this is not a $6-billion deal... this could be at least a $50 billion deal.”
“America is paying Iran’s extortion racket, ceding to Tehran nuclear threshold status just to avoid making tough decisions before next year’s presidential election," he stated.
Security forces and their plainclothes agents made their initial appearance in Ekbatan last week. They have already established checkpoints within the extensive middle-class apartment complex and have stationed special forces on motorcycles at various locations in and around the compound, including outside a mega mall and a hospital.
In preparation for the upcoming anniversary of Mahsa (Jina) Amini's death in custody of the morality police on September 16, 2022, residents have already begun nighttime chants from their windows. Slogans such as "Down with Khamenei," "Down with the child-killing regime," and "We will persist until the regime collapses, despite poverty, corruption, and high living costs," have echoed through the neighborhood in recent days.
“The sound of many people chanting echoed in the space between the apartment blocks and really scared the security forces. On several occasions they shot pellets and even live bullets indiscriminately at windows to stop people chanting,” Tara, a twenty-five-year-old resident told Iran International in an online chat. “It didn’t work. We returned and gave them more nightmares every night.”
“Ekbatan was more active than other neighborhoods in Tehran because its structure and architecture made it difficult for security forces to control. Additionally, the residents’ community was and is much more tightly knit than in other neighborhoods,” Ashkan, a young man who manages Ekbatan protesters very popular Twitter, Telegram, and Instagram accounts told Iran International. “However, they have been familiarizing themselves with the terrain and become more dangerous,” he added.
Eight young men from Ekbatan who were accused of killing a member of the Basij militia during last year’s protests are still in prison and under great psychological and physical pressure to confess to the allegations that they all deny. “Just recently, they were moved from Rajai-Shahr prison to Ghezel Hesar,” Ashkan said. “They are still awaiting trial and are in very bad shape psychologically.”
Protesters in Ekbatan often marched under the blocks at night and escaped into the vast green spaces when security forces raided them. They took refuge in one of the many entrances of the blocks, or hid in the apartments of the sympathetic residents who often left their doors open for them.
The five square-kilometer complex, with a population of 45,000 has over 15,500 apartments in 33 blocks built on wide columns. The columns under the blocks are a blank canvas for protesters to spray paint anti-regime graffiti. Ordered by security forces, the management of the blocks ensures that they quickly cover the graffiti with paint, but before long, more graffiti appears on the columns.
Complaining about the many disputes among expatriate groups over the leadership of the movement, Ashkan said protesters could have achieved much more if these disputes had not slowed down the movement. “This is a lengthy process, but anything can suddenly trigger massive protests again like Mahsa’s killing did last year,” he said but declined to comment on his own leadership preferences.
“I was personally very moved last year and became more determined when I saw the video showing Majidreza Rahnavard fighting so bravely for his rights in Mashhad, which is dominated by Basijis and corrupt hardliners. He was really fearless and fought like a hero," Ashkan said.
Rahnavard, 23, was the first of the seven young men executed in public for his involvement in the protests and the alleged stabbing of two Basijis in November 2022. He was hanged in public on December 12.
Israel’s Alma, an institute focused on threats to Israel, released a report Wednesday elaborating on how Armenia functions as a transit point in the Islamic Republic’s air corridor route to Syria and Lebanon.
The report said Iran exploits Armenia not only to subvert Azerbaijan – an ally of Israel – but also to facilitate the Islamic Republic’s delivery of military equipment to Syria and then to Lebanon, underlining that “the Iranian effort in both arenas works against Israel.”
The Israeli institute pointed out that Iran supports Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, and that Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) operate in the area while tensions are high and may flare up again in the near future. “Iran is acting against Azerbaijan on multiple fronts, with the IRGC’s Quds Force conducting operations in asymmetric warfare, information warfare, and transferring weapons and military equipment to Armenia.”
Referring to the late-August Israeli air attack on Aleppo International Airport – the third one this year, Alma said that Aleppo area, home to about 60,000 Armenians, is “a geographical anchor within the Iranian corridor to Syria, and the Aleppo airport serves as one of the entry gates of the aerial route as part of the weapons corridor from Iran to Syria and Lebanon.”
However, the report failed to note that after more than a decade of civil war, most Armenians who are Christians have fled from the city the city.
The report also mentioned Mehdi Sobhani, Iran’s former envoy to Syria who left his position in March to become the regime’s ambassador to Armenia. “The Iranian ambassador to Syria and Lebanon is normally a senior IRGC officer in charge of coordinating Iranian activity with Hezbollah and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, rather than a diplomat appointed by the Iranian Foreign Ministry,” Alma said, claiming that the selection of Sobhani as the Iranian envoy to Yerevan reflects “the Revolutionary Guards’ high regard for Armenia.”
Alma referred to an earlier report released in December 2022 about the role of Iranian airline Mahan Air -- including its passenger aircraft -- in arms transfers from Iran to Syria and Lebanon on behalf of the IRGC’s Quds Force. It explained that after Iranians airlines were exposed as carriers of arms and forces for the IRGC, Armenian airline Flight Travel LLC was created in 2018 “as a front for Mahan Air’s Armenian headquarters.”
The US Treasury Department sanctioned Flight Travel LLC for aiding Mahan Air in transporting Shiite militia operatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Syria, the report underlined, claiming that “These aircraft most certainly carried not only militia operatives but also military equipment and weapons.”
“Ma’raj (Meraj), Qeshm Fares, Pouya Air, and Iran Air are all Iranian airlines that operate within the Iranian corridor and are linked to the IRGC’s activities using cargo and passenger planes," the report said, adding that they are all sanctioned by the US.
According to Alma’s investigation, three Armenian airlines and one Iranian are still operating between Iran and Armenia. “The deployment of Armenian planes could thwart intelligence surveillance of Iranian activity by making it more difficult to cover their tracks,” it said. Iran Air Tour – a subsidiary of Iran Air -- and Syrian airline Cham Wings play an important role in supporting the Iranian effort for the transfer of materiel and militias to Syria.