From: https://tinyurl.com/ynya6dp7 (dailysignal.com)

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                Biden's Hostage Deal Would Boost Iran's Threats

   James Phillips / August 22, 2023

   The Biden administration reportedly has reached a deal to free five
   Iranian-American hostages held by Iran, in what may be the prelude to an
   even worse agreement on Iran's nuclear program. 

   Under the reported deal, the United States would secure the five hostages'
   release by releasing an unknown number of Iranian agents or sanctions
   violators held in U.S. jails and at least $6 billion of Iranian assets
   frozen by South Korea.

   The hostage deal is dangerous because it would reward Iran's implacably
   hostile regime for seizing American citizens and incentivize Tehran and
   other outlaw regimes to take more hostages.

   Even worse, the $6 billion ransom paid for the hostages also would be a
   down payment for the emerging "informal, unwritten agreement" that
   President Joe Biden naively hopes will defuse growing tensions over Iran's
   nuclear advances, at least until after the 2024 presidential election.

   Biden's State Department already has quietly granted backdoor sanctions
   relief to Iran by allowing Iraq to transfer $2.76 billion to Tehran to pay
   for energy imports. 

   The Biden administration also has relaxed the enforcement of sanctions and
   turned a blind eye to Iran's illicit oil exports to China and other
   destinations. Iran now exports 1.5 million barrels of oil a day to China,
   the highest figure since 2013.

Bolstering a Dictatorship

   If the emerging new deal follows this trajectory of accommodation and
   appeasement, the net effect will be to bolster Iran's embattled
   dictatorship, fill its coffers with billions of dollars in sanctions
   relief, empower it to violently repress its own people and boost the
   threat posed by its missiles, drones, proxy groups, and even its nuclear
   program.

   The backroom deal would do nothing to address the dangers of Iran's
   accelerating uranium enrichment efforts, ballistic missile advances, and
   state-sponsored terrorism. It essentially would be a bribe meant to buy a
   little quiet and kick the can down the road until after the U.S.
   presidential election.

   Under the proposed understanding, which Iranian officials described as a
   "political cease-fire," Iran would agree not to enrich uranium beyond 60%
   purity. Iran supposably also would halt proxy attacks on American forces
   in Syria and Iraq, expand cooperation with international nuclear
   inspectors, and refrain from selling ballistic missiles and weaponized
   drones to Russia.

   However, Iran would not have to reduce its enriched uranium stockpile,
   estimated by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be 4,385 kilograms
   at varying levels of purity, far above the 300-kilogram limit set by the
   2015 nuclear agreement.

   In return, the United States is expected to relax sanctions that have
   hamstrung Iran's economy, refrain from seizing foreign tankers
   transporting illicit Iranian oil exports, and rule out punitive
   resolutions at the United Nations or the International Atomic Energy
   Agency concerning Iran's noncompliance with its commitments to nuclear
   nonproliferation.

   In sum, the Biden administration is considering waiving approximately $20
   billion in sanctions against Tehran in exchange for limited, temporary,
   and easily reversed symbolic actions by Iran.

Blinking Red Lights

   Emerging details of the proposed deal have triggered alarms over several
   aspects of the negotiations.

   First, rather than the "longer and stronger" nuclear deal promised by the
   Biden administration when it came into office, the resulting agreement
   would be nonbinding, weaker than the previous deal, and easily discarded
   at Tehran's convenience.

   Secondly, the Biden administration appears ready to attempt an illegal end
   run around Congress by granting Tehran sanctions relief without allowing
   the lawmakers to review an agreement, as stipulated by the Iran Nuclear
   Agreement Review Act, the 2015 law that requires the president to submit
   such an arrangement to Congress.

   Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
   Committee, wrote a June 15 letter to Biden warning about the need for
   congressional oversight: "I urge the administration to remember that U.S.
   law requires that any agreement, arrangement, or understanding with Iran
   needs to be submitted to Congress pursuant to INARA [the Iran Nuclear
   Agreement Review Act]."

   Iran's radical regime is not likely to be appeased by the billions of
   dollars offered by Biden, any more than it was by the ransom offered by
   the Obama administration when Biden was vice president.

   In January 2016, when the nuclear deal first was implemented, the Obama
   administration secured the release of four Americans, in part by releasing
   seven jailed Iranians and transferring $400 million in cash to Iran.
   Tehran later seized more hostages.

   Although the State Department initially denied that there was any link
   between the payment and the release of prisoners, a spokesman later
   admitted that the payments were used as "leverage" to ensure that the
   Americans would be released.  

   If the Biden-era hostage deal is another effort to coax the predatory
   regime in Tehran into a nuclear agreement through a thinly disguised
   ransom payment, it would greatly undermine U.S. security interests,
   encourage more hostage-taking, and expose American citizens to greater
   risks.

Risky Bet on Restraint

   The Biden administration appears to be on the verge of concluding a
   legally nonbinding agreement in principle with a ruthless regime that has
   no principles except to maintain itself in power and export its Islamist
   revolution.

   What is emerging from more than two years of negotiations is another bad
   nuclear deal pursued by a complacent administration succumbing to wishful
   thinking about appeasing Iran's implacably hostile dictatorship.

   Rather than resulting in an effective resolution to Iran's nuclear
   challenge and continued terrorist attacks on U.S. troops, partners, and
   allies in the region, not to mention increasing activity in the Western
   Hemisphere, the emerging deal would reward the aggressive regime in Tehran
   with billions of dollars of sanctions relief that only will embolden it
   and enable future aggression.

   Such appeasement will undermine long-term U.S. national security
   interests, not advance them. If Biden is determined to go down this path,
   Congress will need to act to defend the United States.
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