Staff Reports
Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, is not a fan of President Joe Biden’s prisoner swap deal with Iran. In fact, he made it very clear in a recent interview that he was never on board with the whole thing. Can you blame him? The deal involved releasing prisoners from both sides and unfreezing a whopping $6 billion in Iranian assets. And for what? To buy humanitarian items like food and medicine? Give me a break.
Manchin blasts $6 billion prisoner swap with Iran: 'I never was for that' https://t.co/8vl6nLDA60
I suspect he will announce his run for President soon.
— Gene Pavlova (@GenePavlova) October 23, 2023
But here’s where it gets even worse. Right after the swap, a terrorist group backed by Iran called Hamas decided to go on a rampage and launched a series of attacks against Israel. Hundreds of innocent civilians were killed, and more than 200 people were taken hostage. Talk about bad timing.
So, naturally, Republicans were quick to criticize the president’s choice and demanded that the money be frozen again. And you know what? Democrats started to join in too. I guess even they couldn’t ignore the fact that giving billions of dollars to Iran might not be the best idea when they’re sponsoring terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.
That’s why Senator Manchin and some of his fellow senators introduced a bill to rescind the licenses that allowed the money to be unfrozen. They’re calling it the Revoke Iranian Funding Act. And you know what? It’s about time someone stood up and said, “Hey, let’s stop giving money to the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.”
But wait, there’s more. The Biden administration wants us to believe that Iran hasn’t actually accessed the money yet. And they say they’ve come to an understanding with the Qatari government to block Iran from getting their hands on it. Yeah, right. Like I’m supposed to believe that. I’ll believe it when I see it.
In the end, it’s clear that this prisoner swap deal was a disaster. It put American interests at risk and gave a green light to Iran to continue supporting terrorism. Thankfully, Senator Manchin and others are taking a stand and trying to put an end to this madness. Let’s hope they succeed.
