On September 11, 2023, the 22nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history, the Biden administration approved a $6-billion ransom payment to the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism. President Joe Biden’s appeasement of Iran not only disgraces the memory of those who died 22 years ago, it endangers Americans today.
Biden agreed to transfer five prisoners and $6 billion to Iran in exchange for the ayatollahs releasing five American hostages — in effect, placing a $1.2-billion bounty on the head of every American hostage. This is a nearly 200% increase per hostage from the $1.7 billion Barrack Obama paid for four hostages in 2015. When Democrats are in office, it pays to have American hostages.
The president’s September 11 deal is even worse than the one he negotiated last year to trade the Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout — known as the “Merchant of Death” — for the Russian-held American basketball player Brittney Griner. At least then, he didn’t pay the equivalent cost of over half a squadron of F-35s per hostage, in addition to a prisoner swap.
And just like in the case of the Merchant of Death, this deal will only lead to more hostage taking. Only a few months after Bout returned to Russia, the Kremlin took Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich hostage. There is a reason that the United States traditionally doesn’t pay ransoms; it only leads to more ransom payments.
This payment is not only unwise, it’s also unfair. Imagine the message this sends to the other families whose loved ones are being held captive abroad. Either the administration has to extend its unwise policy to the rest of the globe, or acknowledge its hypocrisy.
And of course, we have just delivered $6 billion to the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, a nation that attacked American forces over 83 times since Joe Biden took office, and the new home of Al Qaeda’s leadership. This money will pay for more bombs, drones, and terrorist attacks that will kill Americans and our allies. It may also be used to accelerate and fortify Iran’s nuclear program.
The administration assures us that this money will only be used to build hospitals, roads and bridges. Even if we believed the liars and terrorists in Tehran — which we shouldn’t — giving the Iranians $6 billion for roads, bridges and health care frees up to $6 billion dollars that they previously budgeted for those services.
The president’s September 11 deal is even worse than the one he negotiated last year to trade the Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout — known as the “Merchant of Death” — for the Russian-held American basketball player Brittney Griner. At least then, he didn’t pay the equivalent cost of over half a squadron of F-35s per hostage, in addition to a prisoner swap.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the ayatollahs will likely shift those newly available dollars toward their military and security forces. Simply put, we must assume that $6 billion less in civilian spending is $6 billion more in military spending.
This is yet another example of Joe Biden’s unacceptable and embarrassing appeasement of Iran. In 2008, he was aptly labeled, “Tehran’s favorite senator.” Well, Tehran’s favorite senator is unmistakably now Tehran’s favorite president.
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