Biden Administration Approves Prisoner Swap With Iran

The Biden administration has agreed to exchange five Iranian prisoners for five Americans being held in Iran, according to a State Department document sent to Congress on September 11. The agreement also allows for the transfer of $6 billion in frozen Iranian money without the restriction of United States sanctions.

The decision to pay Iran billions on the anniversary of America’s worst terrorist attack is remarkable. Sen. Tom Cotton said it was “shameful” for the Biden administration to use 9/11 as “an excuse to flee Afghanistan. Now he desecrates this day by paying ransom to the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism.”

Iranian spokesman Ali Karimi Magham told the Associated Press the five prisoners Tehran wants released.

• Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, charged in 2021 for failing to register as a foreign agent while lobbying U.S. officials on the nuclear policy
• Mehrdad Ansari, charged in 2021 for obtaining equipment that could be used in missiles, electronic warfare, nuclear weapons and other military gear
• Amin Hasanzadeh, charged in 2019 for stealing engineering plans from his employer to send to Iran
• Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, charged in 2021 for unlawfully exporting laboratory equipment to Iran
• Kambiz Attar Kashani, charged in February for purchasing “top-tier U.S. electronic equipment and software” through front companies in the United Arab Emirates

Sanction waivers: On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed sanction waivers that allow for $6 billion of Iranian funds to be transferred from restricted banks in South Korea to accounts in Qatar.

According to the State Department, the prisoner exchange and transfer of money is the only way to get Iran to release the U.S. citizens.

Ransoms? Despite assurance from the State Department that the exchange “will provide limited benefit to Iran, since the funds may only be used for humanitarian trade,” the Biden administration is being accused of paying ransom money. On top of that, Congress was notified of the exchange on the anniversary of 9/11.

Many can see Iran is using American hostages as leverage over the Biden administration. In the 2013 edition of America Under Attack, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote:

Many people can see that these are disastrous decisions. But we must understand that this isn’t simply the result of ineptitude on the part of this administration, or naivety about how the world really works. We are seeing the aftereffects of a calculated, aggressive, satanic attack aimed at weakening and ultimately destroying the nations of Israel, starting with the world’s most powerful nation!

Learn more: Read Mr. Flurry’s article “This Isn’t Incompetence. This Is Treason!”