Following the Hamas attack on Israel, the US and Qatar have decided to withhold $6 billion in Iranian funds intended for prisoner swaps

According to reports, the United States and Qatar have decided to deny Iran access to $6 billion that was unfrozen as part of a prisoner exchange arrangement after the Hamas onslaught on Israel that left at least 1,300 dead.

The United States and Iran exchanged captives last month. Five Americans detained by Iran were freed, while five Iranians were freed by the United States. The United States also released $6 billion in Iranian cash held in South Korean banks as part of the agreement. The agreement called for the transfer of that sum to a bank in Qatar, where Iran could use money for humanitarian reasons.

After the Hamas assault on Israel, the decision to make the money available to Iran as part of the prisoner exchange has drawn criticism, notably from the Republican Party. Iran has historically supported Hamas, and it has been stated that once these monies were made available to Iran, it strengthened Hamas while freeing up its other finances to be utilized against Israel and other foes.

According to the New York Times, there was a “quiet understanding” between the United States and Qatar to prevent Iran from accessing the monies for the time being, despite the fact that there was no official agreement as such on freezing the assets.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, informed House Democrats on Thursday that Iran would no longer have access to the money.Although U.S. officials did not characterize the money as permanently blocked, they did state that individual requests to use it under the existing arrangement would be rejected for the foreseeable future, according to the NYT.

According to the agreement, these money may only be spent when receipts for humanitarian items, including food and medication, were provided. Even under such circumstances, detractors have said that doing so would imply that money that would have previously been used to buy food or medication has now been freed up for sinister uses, such being spent against Israel.

But as of now, the whole $6 billion remains unclaimed in a Qatari bank. Additionally, it has been noted that the Joe Biden administration did not ‘donate’ this money to Iran since it was Iranian money that was stored in a South Korean bank and was unavailable to Iran due to sanctions. It’s not US currency.

The US Department of Treasury would need to accept any Iranian request to access those monies once it is given valid invoices for humanitarian purchases, according to Jennifer Griffen of Fox News, who explained the transfer of these cash. She claimed in a series of tweets that the Biden administration’s conduct was a continuation of a choice made under the previous administration of President Donald Trump.

As long as the purchases of food and medication were confirmed, even the Trump administration had accepted that Iran may utilize this money for humanitarian purposes. This money was not given to Iran as part of the recent Biden administration prisoner exchange. Politicians who claim that this $6 billion may have been moved to Iran in any way to fund the Hamas assault are thus incorrect. According to US officials who worked for both administrations, there is currently no proof that any of the $6 billion has been removed from Qatar’s account.

The measure, even if only temporarily, would undoubtedly “infuriate Iran’s leadership after a painstaking prisoner swap that took many months to construct and weeks more to complete,” according to The New York Times.

Iran is now seen to be the country most likely to build a nuclear weapon, and the Biden administration wants to restart negotiations with Iran in an effort to save the nuclear agreement that the previous Trump government scrapped. Iran may be persuaded to abandon its nuclear weapons development in exchange for financial relief, according to the theory.

According to the NYT, “Mr. Biden has attempted to defuse tensions with Tehran in recent months after attempts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, from which President Donald J. Trump withdrew, failed. Fears of possible Israeli or American military attacks in retaliation were raised as Iran’s nuclear program rapidly advanced in the years that followed.

“The prisoner deal came as Biden officials sought to reach other understandings with Iran to avoid conflict, including an agreement not to impose new nuclear sanctions so long as Tehran limited its enrichment of uranium that could be used for a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. and Iranian officials.”