Luetkemeyer Delivers Remarks at Hearing to Examine How America and Its Allies Can Stop Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran from Evading Sanctions and Financing Terror

Hearing

"Thank you to our witnesses for taking time out of their busy lives to be here with us today.

A little over two weeks ago, a terrorist attack was underway that would claim the lives of more than 1,400 innocent people and injure another 4,500. Many of these were women, children--even babies, and the elderly, and at least 32 of those killed were American.

The eyewitness accounts of these heinous acts are gut-wrenching.

It was no surprise when Hamas quickly released a video claiming responsibility.

Their behavior on October 7 confirmed they are not a military organization, but rather terrorists of the most barbaric kind.

To complicate matters, as Israel was trying to defend itself on its southern border, the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah sent rockets and infiltrators across Israel's northern border.

What do Hamas and Hezbollah have in common? Among other things, they share the same sponsor: Iran.

In the attack's aftermath, highly credible news reports--notably in the Wall Street Journal--asserted Iranian complicity in the Hamas attacks.

Though the Biden administration--followed by Iran and others--sought to discredit these claims, it could not deny these two proxy organizations get most of their financial backing from Tehran.

So how does Iran fund these and other terror groups, and what can the United States do to stop it?

The United States began imposing sanctions on Iran shortly after revolutionaries seized the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Over the years, as Iran continued to support terrorism and international chaos, the sanctions regime responded and grew into the largest and most complex imposed against any country in the world.

But in 2015, the Obama administration negotiated a deal that was supposedly intended to stop Iran's nuclear program, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.

The JCPOA relaxed many of the tough and effective sanctions that the US took years to implement, freeing up billions of dollars for the regime and reviving its economy.

In May 2018, the Trump administration appropriately withdrew from the agreement and initiated a "maximum pressure campaign,' which reimposed many of the sanctions.

This maximum pressure campaign had crippling effects on the Iranian regime. Iran's official reserves fell from an average of $70 billion in 2017 to $4 billion in 2020, and its economy was on the brink of collapse.

This naturally reduced their ability to finance not just missile and nuclear programs but also terrorist groups like Hamas.

Unfortunately, the current Administration reversed course in hopes of reviving the JCPOA, issuing sanctions waivers or just turning a blind eye to illicit activities that fund the terrorist Iranian state--most importantly oil shipments.

Also, controversially, last August President Biden agreed to an "understanding' with Iran to swap five American hostages for five Iranian criminals. But a one for one swap wasn't enough for Iran so the President tacked on six billion dollars in frozen funds moved from South Korea to Qatar for Iranian use.

That money is supposed to be used for "humanitarian' goods, but because money is fungible, Iran will, as in the past, use these funds to import food or medicine it would otherwise have to buy with scarce hard currency--and use the hard currency they save to fund terrorism.

To address this terrible error in judgment, last week I introduced the Iran Sanctions Accountability Act. If enacted, this bill will deploy responsible due diligence standards that would close loopholes and require the President to attach requirements to humanitarian aid to prevent funds from directly or indirectly supporting illicit acts including terrorism.

As I said last week, we cannot blindly trust the Iranian government, or any other adversarial regime, to act responsibly with funds we've unfrozen or provided for humanitarian aid. It is both naïve and irresponsible to neglect oversight of US dollars once they've left our accounts.

This hearing is the first in a series of hearings this Subcommittee will have regarding Iran's role in financing this war against Israel and, really, against human decency.

Again, thank you to the witnesses for being here today to address this sensitive and complicated topic. We look forward to your analysis and recommendations."

Source