This op-ed by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was first printed in Newsweek on October 31, 2023.
Money within the fingers of fanatical dictators solely brings distress to the world. This is very true for Iran.
According to some reviews, Iran helped Hamas plan and finance the assault on Israel. This motion was not new to the Iranian regime. Iran has been financing terrorism for many years. This is why many Americans had been shocked when President Biden unfrozen $6 billion in Iranian property in a current prisoner change. We all knew that cash may solely carry hurt to freedom-loving folks, however we did not know that the ache would come so quickly.
Fortunately, America had that cash tied up. The Biden administration says Iran has not but obtained the funds, and my Republican colleagues and I are working to make sure they by no means do. But Iran desires to return to the International Monetary Fund, an unconditional supply of funding.
The IMF is a worldwide financial group with 190 member international locations, together with many adversaries. The IMF lends cash to international locations experiencing monetary difficulties. Many international locations fund her IMF, however American taxpayers fund essentially the most. Under sure circumstances, the IMF could make basic allocations, known as particular drawing rights (SDRs), to every member nation. Technically, the transaction is a mortgage, however the curiosity charged is negligible and international locations hardly ever repay the mortgage. The U.S. president should approve these allocations, whereas Congress solely votes on allocations above a specific amount, an ordinary the IMF and Biden administration apparently wish to keep away from.
In 2021, President Biden authorised the biggest IMF SDR allocation in historical past, conveniently valued at $650 billion, to narrowly keep away from Congressional scrutiny. Although that is ostensibly designed to assist international locations reply to the coronavirus pandemic, the funds are fungible. It unfolded precisely as I imagined.
Russia obtained $16.2 billion from the IMF and invaded Ukraine six months later. China obtained $38.3 billion to struggle the pandemic, however has refused to permit the world to analyze the origins of the coronavirus. Iran obtained $4.5 billion whereas selling terrorism and brutalizing girls’s equality protesters all over the world.
The IMF’s said mission is to “obtain sustainable development and prosperity” all over the world. Instead, it’s placing a cease to international locations that search to dominate and plunder the worldwide group. China is supporting Russia in Ukraine, enslaving Uyghurs, protecting up the coronavirus, and failing to assist the worldwide economic system. No one will prosper in Iran so long as Iran funds terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.
But a few of my colleagues in Congress need the IMF to chop checks once more.
Days earlier than Hamas attacked Israel, a number of of my colleagues within the Senate and dozens within the House of Representatives despatched a letter to President Biden asking him to approve an extra $650 billion value of SDR distributions from the IMF.
If he approves the allocation, Iran may obtain as much as $4.9 billion in terror funding, China may obtain one other $41.6 billion to threaten Taiwan, and Russia may obtain as much as $41.6 billion to finance its warfare towards Ukraine. It may obtain as much as $17.6 billion. President Biden as soon as made the error of approving an IMF allocation. Congress can’t sit again and permit him to do it once more.
It is tough to think about why the United States wouldn’t cease Iran from spending billions of {dollars} on the protection and safety of American residents. Iranian leaders cheered as they watched the killing and kidnapping of harmless folks in Israel, together with dozens of Americans. I felt nauseous, however not surprisingly. Iran hates America and her allies. However, the Biden administration continues to attempt to placate this sinister regime with funding, starting from the 2021 IMF allocation to a $6 billion prisoner swap.