Treasury to Respond to Lawmaker’s Questions About Iran Sanction Waivers
The Treasury Department is preparing a response to questions it received from Congress about some of the money Iran has received through recent U.S. sanctions waivers, a Treasury official said Dec. 13.
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The questions from Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, address the $10 billion in Iraqi payments for Iranian electricity being held in escrow accounts in Oman, said Elizabeth Rosenberg, assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, who testified before the subcommittee. The Biden administration has said those payments would be released for humanitarian purposes, including to help Iraq meet its energy needs.
Rosenberg said there have so far been two humanitarian transactions facilitated by the $10 billion fund. Asked by Huizenga whether there have been any problems with those transactions, Rosenberg said she would prefer to respond in a closed-door session. “We have confidence in the series of restrictions that we have in place and the due diligence” to ensure the money is used only for food, medicine and other humanitarian purposes, she said.
Rosenberg and Deputy Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley said there have been no transactions involving a separate $6 billion being held in Qatar, which the U.S. in August said it would release in exchange for the return of American hostages (see 2308150072). Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in October said the administration may not release those funds if it finds Iran aided Hamas' attack on Israel earlier this year (see 2310120032). “Not a penny of this money has been spent, and these funds will not go anywhere anytime soon,” Paley said.
Congressional Republicans have criticized the sanctions waivers. The House on Nov. 30 passed a bill, the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act, that would re-freeze the $6 billion. In a Dec. 5 letter to Biden administration officials, a group of senators expressed concern that the money Iran has gained access to from the waivers could be used “to offset the cost of the Iranian regime’s increase in destabilizing activities across the region” (see 2312080036).