Iran releases five Americans as part of a prisoner swap
Five Americans return to the US as part of a deal with Iran before the UN General Assembly.
Cody Godwin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is facing heat over his decision to carry out a controversial prisoner swap between the United States and Iran.
The deal could pave the way for better relations with the bitter rival. But it has also put Biden further at odds with Republicans in Congress and given new fodder to his presidential rivals.
It involves the release of $6 billion in frozen assets.
Republicans have equated the swap with Iran with the government paying a ransom for the released Americans.
America has a policy of not paying ransoms, and they say the Biden administration cannot guarantee that the money will not be used to finance Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, Russia’s war on Ukraine or terrorism. Biden’s critics also warn that the policy could lead to the unjustified arrest and detention of more Americans.
The prisoner swap rewards Tehran for imprisoning Americans, Biden’s critics say
The number of Americans held hostage or wrongfully imprisoned abroad is unknown. The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation is pursuing 55 publicly disclosed cases. While terrorist kidnappings have declined in recent years, the organization found that foreign governments have been increasingly unlawfully detaining U.S. citizens for more than a decade.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said he was very concerned that the $6 billion would incentivize hostage-taking in the future.
“While the government claims that these funds are limited to humanitarian transactions, we all know that transactions are difficult to monitor and that money is fungible,” McCaul said in a statement Monday. “There is no doubt that this deal will free up funds for Iran’s malign activities.”
The Biden administration insists that the funds, derived from Iranian oil revenues parked in bank accounts abroad, can only be used for humanitarian purposes.
Still, Republicans aren’t sure the money will be used to buy food and medicine. Critics were even more outraged after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said his government would determine what constitutes humanitarian aid.
“Humanitarian means everything the Iranian people need,” Raisi told NBC News.
In an interview with USA TODAY ahead of the prisoner swap, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. had “categorically” said it would control how the funds were used. “They will serve humanitarian purposes. I have no doubt,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Republicans push for “maximum pressure”
President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from the nuclear deal the Obama administration signed with Europe in 2015. The former president also reimposed strict sanctions against Iran.
Republicans generally support the use of sticks rather than carrots when it comes to Iran, arguing that deals like the one Biden brokered would lead to weakness.
In social media posts, some written in all caps, Trump argued Monday that Biden was setting a “terrible precedent” and “when you pay, you always pay, and many more hostages will be taken.”
Supporters of Biden’s deal see the return of the five Americans this week as evidence that the previous administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran was not constructive and that Biden’s policy of combining diplomatic negotiations with sanctions is more likely to lead to better cooperation with Tehran will lead.
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an adviser to the Iranian government on nuclear and foreign policy, said in a brief WhatsApp message that the prisoner exchange represented an “opportunity for the US” to further cooperate with Iran in other areas. However, Marandi said that from the Iranian perspective, “it is unclear whether Team Biden has the political will to seize this opportunity.”
Biden’s foreign policy toward America’s enemies is based on creating open lines of communication to avoid misunderstandings. But he is running for re-election and cannot afford to lose the support of swing voters who voted for him and against Trump in the last election.
Siamak Namazi, one of the released Americans, encouraged Biden on Monday to use the United Nations bully pulpit this week to prevent hostage-taking in the first place.
“Only when the free world finally agrees to collectively impose draconian consequences on those who use human lives as a mere bargaining chip will the Iranian regime and its ilk be forced to make different choices,” Namazi said in a statement. “Unfortunately, until then, we can expect that even more Americans and others will become victims of state hostage-taking – a horror that, thanks to you, my family and I want to put behind us starting today.”
New source of Biden criticism
Biden has already clashed with Republicans in Congress over Ukraine and the slow pace of the counteroffensive.
The administration is in a standoff with House Republicans over $20.6 billion in funding for Ukraine that it requested over the summer. The money is intended to support Ukraine’s military and humanitarian efforts through the end of the calendar year. But with the fiscal year ending at the end of September, the U.S. government could be headed for a shutdown, partly due to disputes over the application.
Republicans in Congress are divided over whether it is a vital U.S. interest to continue funding the war. And even among those who support the aid, Biden has faced criticism for refusing to equip Kiev with long-range weapons sooner.
In a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, the US president will again urge global support for the war before returning to Washington on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
Contributor: Kim Hjelmgaard