U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts visiting the Texas-Mexico border.
Following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel over the weekend, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts is joining an effort to convince the White House to freeze the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds.
The letter, led by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), was signed by 20 Senate Republicans, one of them being the Sen. Ricketts who is a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The letter demands President Biden and the State Department immediately rescind the waivers that allowed $6 billion of Iranian funds to be converted and moved to more accessible bank accounts, as well as work with Qatar to immediately freeze the accounts containing these funds.
“To stand by and allow Iran access to these funds as Hamas infiltrates Israel and murders, rapes, and mutilates countless Israelis is unconscionable,” the senators wrote. “Oversight over the use of this $6 billion is not enough, and the oversight mechanism is crippled by your reported decision to pull the longstanding Treasury attaché from Qatar. The State Department should immediately rescind the waivers that allowed Iranian funds to be converted and moved to more accessible bank accounts, as well as work with U.S. ally Qatar to immediately freeze the accounts containing these funds.”