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NEW DELHI: As Israel braces for what prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would be a “long war” against Hamas, the heat of the battle has reached Washington where former US president Donald Trump and other Republican contenders have accused President Joe Biden of fanning the flames by unfreezing Iranian assets worth over $6 billion.
Launching a scathing attack at Biden, Trump raked up the funds released to Iran — a staunch rival of Israel — by the US administration.
“American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks,” said Trump, according to news agency AP. He further argued that, under Biden, the US is “perceived as being weak and ineffective on the global stage, opening the door to hostility”.
“They didn’t have that level of aggression with me. They didn’t have it. This would have never happened with me,” Trump claimed, adding that Biden had “betrayed Israel” with the deal.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused Biden of “policies that have gone easy on Iran” and have “helped to fill their coffers. Israel is now paying the price for those policies. We’re going to stand with the State of Israel, they need to root out Hamas and we need to stand up to Iran.”
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott alleged the 6 billion dollars were not just an invitation to aggression but the US actually “paid for it”.
“The Biden 6 billion dollars ransom payment at work. We didn’t just invite this aggression, we paid for it,” Scott was quoted as saying by AP.
The issue over which the Republicans have trained guns on the Biden administration involves an intricate deal wherein Iran in September agreed to release five US citizens in exchange for around 6 billion dollars in Iranian assets being held in South Korea.
Later, going by the prisoner swap conditions, the US issued a sanctions waiver for banks to transfer 6 billion of frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar’s Doha, as was demanded by Tehran.
Meanwhile, as the Opposition stepped up their attack on Biden unfreezing Iranian assets, administration officials on Saturday told the AP that “no money in the Doha account so far has been spent”.
The Biden officials cleared that the sum was never a part of US taxpayer money, but rather payments made by South Korea to Iran to buy oil in recent years. The officials stressed that funds had been stuck in South Korea due to US sanctions, adding that money is now held in a restricted account in Doha.
According to AP, the officials said the money is meant to be used for solely humanitarian purposes — such as food and medicine for Iranians — and handled by what the administration described as vetted non-Iranian vendors.
The sudden attacks by Hamas terrorists in the southern and central region of the Jewish state, which came after the end of Sukkot, a weeklong festival for Jews to commemorate the harvest season, have led to unprecedented escalation between the Israeli administration and the terror outfit.
After the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was “at war” and vowed to take “mighty vengeance” against Hamas.
Israeli death toll from the Hamas attack, on the second day, has reached around 500-600.
Launching a scathing attack at Biden, Trump raked up the funds released to Iran — a staunch rival of Israel — by the US administration.
“American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks,” said Trump, according to news agency AP. He further argued that, under Biden, the US is “perceived as being weak and ineffective on the global stage, opening the door to hostility”.
“They didn’t have that level of aggression with me. They didn’t have it. This would have never happened with me,” Trump claimed, adding that Biden had “betrayed Israel” with the deal.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused Biden of “policies that have gone easy on Iran” and have “helped to fill their coffers. Israel is now paying the price for those policies. We’re going to stand with the State of Israel, they need to root out Hamas and we need to stand up to Iran.”
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott alleged the 6 billion dollars were not just an invitation to aggression but the US actually “paid for it”.
“The Biden 6 billion dollars ransom payment at work. We didn’t just invite this aggression, we paid for it,” Scott was quoted as saying by AP.
The issue over which the Republicans have trained guns on the Biden administration involves an intricate deal wherein Iran in September agreed to release five US citizens in exchange for around 6 billion dollars in Iranian assets being held in South Korea.
Later, going by the prisoner swap conditions, the US issued a sanctions waiver for banks to transfer 6 billion of frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar’s Doha, as was demanded by Tehran.
Meanwhile, as the Opposition stepped up their attack on Biden unfreezing Iranian assets, administration officials on Saturday told the AP that “no money in the Doha account so far has been spent”.
The Biden officials cleared that the sum was never a part of US taxpayer money, but rather payments made by South Korea to Iran to buy oil in recent years. The officials stressed that funds had been stuck in South Korea due to US sanctions, adding that money is now held in a restricted account in Doha.
According to AP, the officials said the money is meant to be used for solely humanitarian purposes — such as food and medicine for Iranians — and handled by what the administration described as vetted non-Iranian vendors.
The sudden attacks by Hamas terrorists in the southern and central region of the Jewish state, which came after the end of Sukkot, a weeklong festival for Jews to commemorate the harvest season, have led to unprecedented escalation between the Israeli administration and the terror outfit.
After the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was “at war” and vowed to take “mighty vengeance” against Hamas.
Israeli death toll from the Hamas attack, on the second day, has reached around 500-600.
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