The Patriot Post® · RNC: Biden's Appeasement Emboldened Iran

By the Republican National Committee

ANOTHER FOREIGN POLICY DISASTER

• The Biden administration’s pattern of weakness on the world stage and attempts at appeasement with terrorists in the Middle East have emboldened Iran.
  • As former Defense Secretary Bob Gates said, Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades¹.”
• As the largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran’s fingerprints are all over Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel, each year Hamas receives roughly $100 million² from Iran.
  • Iran has also “delivered the technology and know-how that have enabled Hamas to build up its own arsenal of rockets in Gaza based on Iranian designs³.”
• Hamas’ recent terrorist attack on Israel has killed at least 27 Americans⁴ and more than 1,300 Israelis⁵, with many more Americans still missing⁶ or unaccounted for.
• For the Americans stranded in Israel who want to leave, Biden spokesperson John Kirby has told them to simply buy a commercial flight⁷ – as airlines increasingly suspend air service⁸ to Israel.

BIDEN HAS PURSUED A POLICY OF APPEASEMENT WITH IRAN

• Last month, the Biden administration released $6 billion in ransom⁹ to Iran in a lopsided prisoner exchange.
  • The administration knew there was a “high risk¹⁰” doing so could boost Hamas, but did it anyway.
  • Despite the Biden administration’s claim that the funds would be restricted to humanitarian use, money is fungible, with the Iranian president declaring “authority¹¹” over the funds and saying they would be spent “wherever we need it¹².”
  • Following this weekend’s brutal Hamas terror attack in Israel, the administration has yet to refreeze¹³ these Iranian funds.
• Since Biden took office, his administration has relaxed oil sanctions enforcement¹⁴ and allowed Iran to profit on $80 billion¹⁵ in illicit oil sales, a five-year high for the largest state sponsor of terror.
• Meanwhile, Biden’s handpicked choice for special envoy to Iran, Rob Malley, is under investigation for mishandling classified documents¹⁶ and his alleged involvement in an Iran-backed spy campaign¹⁷.
  • In 2010, Malley¹⁸ called it “a mistake to only think of [Hezbollah and Hamas] in their terrorist violence dimension … [Hamas] has a charity organization, a social branch … there’s so much misinformation about them.”

BIDEN WAS HELLBENT ON REJOINING THE DISASTROUS IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

• Biden has spent his presidency¹⁹ tripping over himself to restore the Obama-era Iran deal, providing the world’s largest state sponsor of terror with concession after concession.
  • In an effort to entice Iran to rejoin the nuclear deal, the State Department announced²⁰ it was waiving sanctions on Iran’s “civilian” nuclear program.
  • Biden failed²¹ to enforce sanctions that prohibit Iranian oil imports into China.
  • The administration continued to work²² with Russia on the nuclear deal during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Iran’s “breakout time²³"— the time needed to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon — is now at "zero.”
• As Biden bent over backwards for Iran, our enemies openly bragged²⁴ about how great the Iran Nuclear Deal is for them.
  • Russia’s lead negotiator in the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said “Iran got much more than it could expect” in negotiations.
• Through his desperation to rejoin the deal, Biden ignored our closest ally in the region, Israel, who raised serious concerns²⁵ over the U.S. reentering the deal.
• Last December, Biden finally said the deal is “dead²⁶,” but stressed that the U.S. won’t formally announce it.
• Biden¹⁹ falsely blamed²⁷ the previous Republican administration for the rise in Iran’s nuclear power rather than his own policies.
  • According to one U.N. watchdog, Iran has been enriching large amounts of uranium and has been withholding footage²⁸ of its monitoring in nuclear sites since 2021.

BIDEN HAS A HISTORY OF ATTEMPTING TO APPEASE AND DEFEND IRAN

• In 1998, Senator Biden voted against²⁹ sanctioning Russian businesses³⁰ selling missile technology to Iran.
• Just weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Biden said it “seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran³¹.”
• In 2002, Biden³² supported Iran’s bid to the World Trade Organization and opposed U.S. intervention in the struggle for democracy in Iran.
• In 2007, Senator Biden voted against³³ designating the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
  • During the 2008 presidential primary debates, Biden doubled down, calling it a “serious mistake³⁴” to called the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Quds force a terrorist organization.
• In 2007, Biden threatened to impeach³⁵ President Bush if the U.S. went to war with Iran.
• During the 2008 presidential primary debates, Biden said “Iran is not a nuclear threat to the United States of America³⁶.”
• As a senator, Biden called for direct engagement³⁷ with Iran, even repeatedly offering³² to meet³⁸ with Iranian politicians himself³⁹.
• As vice president, Biden was the White House’s “top salesperson⁴⁰” for the Iran Nuclear Deal, claiming the deal would make the U.S. and Israel “safer, not weaker⁴¹.”
  • Biden continued to tout his involvement with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during his 2020 campaign, saying “I’m the guy that helped put together the Iran deal and got the inspectors in there⁴².”
  • As part of the deal with Iran, the U.S. agreed to a $1.7 billion⁴³ settlement – sending pallets of cash⁴⁴ to the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
  • Biden defended⁴⁵ the cash payments despite John Kerry, his own advisor, admitting⁴⁶ that some of money went to fund terrorism.
• During the 2020 presidential election, Biden criticized⁴⁷ President Trump for killing Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani, saying he wouldn’t have ordered the strike⁴⁸.

Originally posted here⁴⁹.