A rather disturbing report hit the newswires early Tuesday morning.
The Biden administration appears ready to allow sanctions against Iran to expire, which has everyone baffled with the war in Israel raging.
With Hamas waging war against Israel, it would seem natural that any sanctions imposed against Iran, the primary supporter of Hamas, would remain in place.
That, however, is not the case.
As it is being reported right now, U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and European allies regarding the purchase and supplying of missiles are about to expire.
Tuesday, October 17, 2023, is set as the "Transition Day," which is when the sanctions officially expire, but we have seen no movement in terms of them being renewed.
In early October, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel was asked about extending the sanctions. He responded:
"We continue to have a number of tools at our disposal to hold Iran's dangerous development and proliferation of missile-related technologies and UAVs – to hold those things accountable. Obviously, UNSCR 2231 is not the only tool at our disposal. We have our own sanctions authorities.
"We have export controls. We have bilateral and multilateral engagements. We have already effectively targeted the same networks and individuals that would have been covered under a 2231 UNSCR violation, and we'll continue to use our own sanctions authorities to hold the Iranian regime accountable."
With everything happening in the Middle East right now, this is not going over with former Trump officials or anyone with an ounce of common sense, for that matter.
Richard Goldberg, who served on the National Security Council during the Trump administration as the director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction, unleashed on the Biden administration for failing to extend these sanctions.
He stated:
"The president gives a speech saying he is heartbroken about the images of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and opposes Hamas, and a week later, he hands a gift to Hamas' sponsor, Iran. My heart breaks to see the president lift this embargo."
Goldberg continued, stating that allowing Iran to continue its missile program would be a "huge victory for Tehran that is simply serving as a reward for terrorism and proliferation around the world."
I am just baffled how Joe Biden, who is getting crushed in polling on foreign policy, refuses to take the opportunity to show strength in these situations.
He could have done it with the $6 billion that was freed, and he could clearly be doing it now.
Instead, Biden has scheduled a trip to Israel for a photo op so he can say how tough he is for going into a war zone to shake hands with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Biden did this in Ukraine as well, more worried about bolstering his tough-guy or cool-guy image, whatever the White House and their social media surrogates are pitching these days, rather than making moves to keep the United States and its allies safe from these threats.
So, just digest this for a second…
While war is being waged against an ally, there has been no official statement about the $ 6 billion being frozen, but now he is also allowing Iran to resume its missile program.
Instead, he will take a trip to Israel that will cost the American taxpayers millions of dollars, all for a photo op with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sadly, the liberal horde will celebrate this and completely buy into the idea that Joe Biden is the toughest man on the planet.
