Former President Trump on Wednesday joined the GOP calls for President Biden to refreeze the $6 billion in Iranian funds released by the U.S. last month during a prisoner swap.
“CROOKED JOE BIDEN MUST TAKE BACK AND FREEZE THE 6 BILLION DOLLARS RIGHT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote Wednesday in a Truth Social post. “HOW COULD ANYONE BE SO INCOMPETENT AND STUPID? BIDEN CAUSED THIS WAR, AND IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE!!!”
Last month, the Biden administration agreed to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets in exchange for the freedom of five wrongfully detained American citizens.
In doing so, the Biden administration granted clemency to five Iranians and issued a blanket waiver for international banks to allow the transfer of the Iranian oil sale proceeds, which were frozen in South Korea, to a bank in Qatar.
U.S. officials said the funds were to be used only for food, medicine and other humanitarian goods.
The deal promoted criticism from some Republican lawmakers, who argued that the move would free up resources for Iran’s military spending and support of terrorism.
The $6 billion transfer came under renewed scrutiny over the weekend after Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that has been supported by Iran, launched a multipronged attack against Israel. Hamas fighters invaded multiple Israeli towns by land, sea and air, leaving more than 1,000 dead, mostly civilians.
A group of Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), wrote a letter to Biden dated Oct. 9, asking him to stop the release of funds into Iran.
The senators argued the money is “fungible” and at risk of being used by Hamas or Iran to further attacks against Israel — or could be used by the Iranian regime to fund terrorism.
Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back against suggestions that the Biden administration’s deal may have contributed to Hamas’s recent attacks, claiming the $6 billion in frozen funds have remained unspent.
Pressed over whether Iran used other funds to support the attacks in anticipation of the funds being unfrozen, Blinken emphasized the humanitarian clause in the deal, while noting, “Iran has, unfortunately, always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism, on supporting groups like Hamas.”
Iran has dismissed allegations that it played a role in Hamas’s attack and denied claims it supplied the group with military aid or intelligence.
Israeli forces were quick to launch a major counteroffensive against Hamas over the weekend and have continued to launch retaliatory strikes into the Gaza Strip.
The death toll in the Israel-Hamas conflict rose to 2,200 lives Wednesday, with that number expected to climb as fighting rages on.