The Treasury Department confirmed this week that funds sent to Iran will be used directly to fund the “violent” activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps “before being used for civilian or humanitarian assistance.”
Sen. Tim Scott is now demanding answers from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen after Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemo testified before the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Tuesday about Iran’s use of humanitarian aid. There is.
Mr. Adeyemo testified about the “fungible nature of so-called humanitarian aid” in response to questions from Scott R.S.C.
“What we have seen over and over again with the Iranian regime is that they do not feed their people and they put the Revolutionary Guards first,” Adeyemo said. “Any money they have will be spent on acts of violence before dealing with the public.”
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“This is partly why humanitarian aid money is rarely used for humanitarian purposes, because they are not interested in procuring drugs or food for their own people,” Adeyemo said.
“In Iran, it has been proven that dollars that are directly accessible within the country are spent on the Revolutionary Guards before they are spent on the people,” Adeyemo added.
South Carolina Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott gives an interview to FOX News on July 18, 2023, ahead of Scott City Hall in Salem, New Hampshire. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
FOX News Digital obtained a letter Scott sent to Yellen after testifying.
“The Treasury Department plays a critical role in ensuring our national security through a toolkit that disrupts illicit financing and curbs the flow of money that supports bad actors,” Scott said. “We remain gravely concerned about the efforts being advanced by the United States,” he added. It increases Iran’s access to sanctions funds, funds that directly support Iran’s terrorist proxies across the Middle East. ”
Scott said Adeyemo’s testimony “only heightens” concerns, adding that Adeyemo’s “current sanctions relief and humanitarian assistance plan being offered to Iran is not a viable solution, but rather a threat to the U.S. “We have made it abundantly clear that this would harm national security interests.”
June 6, 2019, US Treasury Building in Washington. The United States has imposed terrorism sanctions on a family network of seven individuals and businesses across Lebanon and South America for funding the militant group Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Patrick Semanski, File)
“Amazingly, on your watch, Iran has increased its oil exports, with China becoming its largest buyer,” Scott wrote. “This increase would translate into billions of dollars in additional revenue for the regime, which, as the Treasury Department has testified, will almost certainly be used to finance violent terrorist activities.”
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“Given Iran’s track record of diverting so-called humanitarian assistance to ‘violent acts,’ as the Treasury has characterized it, we believe that every dollar available to Iran will be replaced by new dollars,” Scott said. We must act on the premise that there is.” To endanger U.S. military personnel or threaten our allies, especially Israel. ”
“In light of this, I am working with the Department of the Treasury to actively account for all Iranian high-value international assets around the world that are currently blocked by U.S. sanctions, as well as current funds that have already been released to Iran.” “I call for additional measures to be taken in the future by Iran,” Scott wrote. “As long as the current administration actively recognizes that any funding to Iran is support for terrorism, no dollar, euro or dinar sanctioned by the United States should ever be released to Iran.”
However, the Treasury said there are two different types of funds. One is humanitarian funds held in banks outside Iran and said to be transferred to Iran by a third party, and the other is funds already in Iran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei spoke at a meeting with nuclear scientists and Iranian Atomic Energy Organization officials on Sunday, June 11, in Tehran, Iran. (Iran Supreme Leader’s Office/WANA/Reuters)
A Treasury Department official pointed to another part of Adeyemo’s testimony to FOX News Digital, in which he said humanitarian funding is “tied up in financial institutions” and that “that money never goes to Iran.” It will not be passed on to the United States.”
Regarding other types of funds, Adeyemo said that in the United States, “money is fungible, but in Iran, any dollar that you have direct access to domestically has proven to be used for the Revolutionary Guards before that happens.” “There is,” he said. used for their people. ”
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Sen. Mark Warner (Virginia) asked Mr. Adeyo if humanitarian aid could be used to fund funds already held in Iran, to which Mr. Adeyo responded, “No. None of that money.” “I haven’t gone to Iran. None of that money is going to Iran.” Iran. ”
