After the war began in Israel following the attacks carried out by the terrorist group Hamas, tensions between Iran and the United States have intensified, reflected in an exchange of statements between different leaders of both countries. Despite this, the Biden administration has decided to grant the Islamist regime an exemption from sanctions and unfreeze $10 billion in funds. The condition is that Tehran must use these funds for specific purposes.
"We don’t worry about optics; we worry about reality. And the reality is that these funds, as I said, can only be used for humanitarian and other non-sanctionable purposes," Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the Department of State (DOS), stated in a press briefing.
The reason that has led the Biden administration to release these $10 billion is so that Iraq, which is highly dependent on Iran for energy, can have access to a number of resources such as electricity. The White House agreed to this exemption in July, and it expired 120 days after its approval.
Apart from allocating the funds for humanitarian or non-sanctionable purposes, the Biden administration imposed another condition on the Iranian regime: the money will have to remain in a blocked account located in Baghdad, Iraq.
Second exemption since September
In less than three months, the White House has released a total of $16 billion in frozen funds to the Islamist regime. Along with the $10 billion just released, another $6 billion was approved by the Biden Administration at the beginning of September.
In this case, it was not so that Iraq could access Iran's energy, but in return for five American hostages, Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, Morad Tahbaz and two other anonymous citizens. The agreement was made a month earlier, after the Islamist regime and the United States government entered into negotiations.
Controversy arose regarding that first release of funds. The Washington Post reported that the Treasury Department agreed with Qatar to freeze the $6 billion. However, both the Iranian regime and Secretary of State Antony Blinken later denied this information, ensuring that Tehran continued to have access to the money.
