Six days into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States, with no hard evidence to prove, still believes that Iran was involved in the Hamas raid on Israel. A month after the Biden administration confirmed it had approved the release of $6 billion in Iranian assets previously frozen by the United States, there appears to be another back-and-forth.
According to Bloomberg News reported on the 12th, US government officials said that they do not rule out the possibility of refreezing this fund. The $6 billion earmarked for humanitarian purposes has become a litmus test for attacks on Biden's Iran policy and a focus of investigations into Iran's possible role in Saturday's Hamas raid.
On October 11, 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden held a roundtable meeting with Jewish community leaders at the White House. Photo from American media
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence agencies had no evidence that Iran was directly involved in the attack or that it had advance knowledge of the details of Hamas's plans, but they remained convinced that Iran was well aware that Hamas was planning something against Israel.
In 2010, Iran opened won-dollar accounts at Korea Small and Medium Enterprise Bank (IBK) and Woori Bank in the name of the central bank of Iran to receive payment for crude oil exports to Korea. After the United States added the Central Bank of Iran to the sanctions list in 2018, the above account opened by Iran in South Korea could no longer be traded, and about $7 billion in crude oil payments from South Korea to Iran were frozen in the account. Over the years, that fund has shrunk by about $1 billion.
The Biden administration confirmed last month that it had reached a deal with Iran to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian funds held in international banks and release five Iranian detainees in exchange for the release of five U.S. citizens held in Iran. Under the Biden administration's approval, international banks in Europe, the Middle East and Asia will unfreeze $6 billion in funds held in South Korea and transfer the money to Qatar's central bank.
The State Department said the unfrozen funds belong to Iran, but can only be used to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies, and the use of the funds will be subject to "strict oversight" by the US Treasury Department. However, Iranian President Raisi said that the frozen funds belong to the Iranian people and the Iranian government, so how to use the frozen funds will be decided by Iran.
Local time on September 19, 2023, Virginia, the United States, five Americans released by Iran arrived at Fort Belvoir.
Today, Iran's central bank governor, Farzin, has confirmed that $6 billion of Iranian funds have been released, but members of Congress from both parties are clamor to freeze them again.
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator of the US National Security Council, said on MSNBC on the 10th that if Iran is involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States may freeze another $6 billion of Iranian funds in Qatari banks.
He also said that according to the information available to the United States, Iran has not used the funds.
Us Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the administration has not ruled out imposing new sanctions on Iran, adding that she would not take any future actions off the table.
On the same day, US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Tom Cotton unveiled a legislative bill calling for the immediate freezing of $6 billion in Iranian prisoner exchange funds.
He declared that giving Iran access to the $6 billion in prisoner money "immediately frees up other funds for the regime to fund its attacks on Israel."
In addition, Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have also called for freezing Iranian funds.
Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, while also expressing support for keeping the funds frozen until Iran's involvement in the attacks is determined, accused Republicans of "deliberately misleading the American people" about the $6 billion, saying that "none of the sanctions money has been transferred to Iran."
On October 11, 2023 local time, in the Gaza Strip, Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted rockets launched from Gaza and continued to bomb Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
On October 7, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) launched a massive rocket attack on Israel in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. At the same time, dozens of armed Palestinians infiltrated the Israeli-controlled area and launched attacks in several locations. Israel immediately declared a "state of war" and launched an operation code-named "Iron Sword" against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, launching hundreds of air strikes on multiple targets there. As of press time, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed more than 2,400 people and injured thousands more.
The Hamas raid has roiled U.S. policy in the Middle East, and the Biden administration is weighing how best to handle the $6 billion. Since the previous agreement between the United States and Iran has been fiercely attacked by domestic Republicans, who believe that the United States is "extorted to pay $6 billion" or a "ransom" for the exchange of hostages, and "provided financial support for the attack," any further confiscation of Iranian funds will increase friction with Iran and be seen as a "victory for critics."
It is worth mentioning that Biden issued a warning to Iran in his speech at a roundtable with Jewish community leaders on the 11th, he said that the United States has sent a fleet of aircraft carriers to the Middle East, intended to convey to the Iranians "be careful."