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Blinken is asked if US hostage swap money was used to fund Hamas attack, his answer is a minefield

Iran has historically supported Hamas, the group designated by the US as a terrorist organization which carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel

WASHINGTON, DC: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised many eyebrows on Sunday, October 8, 2023, when he attempted to push back against unfounded claims that $6 billion funds freed up in the US-Iran prisoner swap have facilitated Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Iran has historically supported Hamas, the group designated by the US as a terrorist organization, which carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel at daybreak on Saturday.

Israeli officials confirmed on Monday that over 700 Israeli civilians had been killed in the attack and another 2,150 were gravely wounded.

As Israel continues to fight back, some Republican leaders are claiming that the money released in the US-Iran prisoner swap has funded the brutal attacks.

Why did the US agree to free up $6 billion frozen funds for Iran?

In September, the Biden administration informed Congress that banks would be permitted to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil assets as part of a deal to swap five jailed Americans for five detained Iranians.

In accordance with the deal, the funds were transferred from South Korea to Qatar and could only be used for humanitarian purposes.

South Korea held $6 billion in Iranian funds under a 2018 waiver from the Trump administration that allowed it to continue to purchase oil from Iran.

Under the recent deal, Blinked signed a waiver, guaranteeing that international banks moving Iranian funds would not be subject to American sanctions.

At that time, the State Department asserted that the US is keeping an eye on how the money is spent to make sure it goes toward meeting the needs of local Iranians in terms of food, medication, and other humanitarian aid.

Is Iran using US hostage swap money to fund Hamas attack?

Last week, a Hamas spokesman told the BBC that the organization has been receiving direct support from Iran to conduct the brutal attacks.

Blinken then condemned Iran's lengthy history of supporting Hamas while pointing out that the country had not yet used the funds that were recently made available during the swap deal.

The Secretary of State was being interviewed on NBC’s 'Meet the Press' when host Kristen Welker asked, “Your officials have already said Iran has not yet seen a cent of that money, but how do you respond to Republican critics who say that that deal funded the attacks on Israel?”

To which, Blinked replied, “Well, it’s very unfortunate that some are playing politics at a time when so many lives have been lost and Israel remains under attack. Here are the facts: The facts are that these were – these were not US taxpayer dollars.”

“From day one, under our law, under our sanctions going back many years, it’s always had the right to use those funds for humanitarian purposes – for food, for medicine, for medical equipment," he continued. 

“The funds were moved from one bank to another where it could more easily do that, but under the close supervision of the US Treasury Department,” Blinken added.

Welker then emphasized the argument that Iran knew the money was coming so they used other funds to facilitate the attacks.

Reflecting on the arguments, Blinken slammed Iran for supporting Hamas and said, “Iran has, unfortunately, always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism, on supporting groups like Hamas, and it’s done that when there have been sanctions, it’s done that there haven’t been sanctions."

“And it’s always prioritized that. And again, I come back to the proposition that from – these funds have always been, under the law, available to Iran to use for humanitarian purposes,” Blinken said.

“The Trump administration set up a very similar mechanism to enable Iran to use these kinds of assets for humanitarian purposes. We’ve done the same thing,” he stated.