WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Biden administration’s recent decision to approve yet another Iran sanctions waiver, potentially worth billions of dollars, Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Tim Scott and their colleagues in an effort to hold the Biden administration accountable and demand transparency for the American people on U.S. enabled payments to Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism. In a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the senators raised concerns that the latest waiver makes sanctioned Iranian funds, which could be used to fund terrorism, more accessible to the Iranian regime and disregards congressional intent calling for severe restrictions on payments to Iran. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) also signed the letter.

In the letter, the senators wrote, “It is unfathomable that this is the context in which the administration determined that it was within the national security interest of the United States to waive sanctions on restricted Iranian funds, making them more accessible to the regime. If we want to actually restore deterrence in the region, those funds should be placed further out of Iran’s reach, not closer.”

They continued, “…the Iran Threat Reduction Act amended section 1245(d)(4) of the FY12 NDAA to require that any funds due to the Iranian regime for petroleum sales must be kept in bank accounts in the country purchasing Iranian oil, in locally dominated currency from which the regime could draw for the purchase of commercial goods. This requirement was intended to limit the Iranian regime’s ability to access hard currency from these sales…However, you have now issued three waivers related to Iraqi electricity payments that authorize funds to be transferred outside of Iraq and for those funds to be denominated in euro… The United States should be restricting Iran’s access to currency abroad. Instead, your administration is expanding it, all while continuing to share limited information on a strategy to restore deterrence in the Middle East with Congress or the American people.”

Read the full text of the letter HERE.

Earlier this month, Senator Rick Scott returned from his sixth trip to Israel, where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials to discuss the United States’ and Israel’s shared priority of destroying Iran-backed Hamas terrorists that have killed thousands of individuals, including Americans since the October 7, 2023 attacks. Read more HERE. Read more regarding every action and statement Sen. Scott has done in support of Israel following the October 7th Iran-backed Hamas terrorist attack: https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/israel.

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