Iran will use cash assets provided by the Biden administration as part of a new nuclear accord to fund regional terror groups and enhance the capabilities of a militant network committed to assassinating U.S. officials, according to written testimony to Congress from a top U.S. military commander exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Gen. Stephen Townsend, who led U.S. Africa Command until August of this year, in March warned Congress that Iran is certain to use "at least some of the resources gained from sanctions relief to" increase its illicit shipment of advanced weapons to terror groups operating in Africa and the Near East region, according to written information he provided to Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) after a public hearing before Congress.
In addition to boosting Iran's terror allies like the Houthi rebels in Yemen, sanctions relief will enable Tehran to expand its Iranian Threat Network, a group of terror cells run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps's Quds Force that is focused on assassinating American officials, according to Townsend.
With a new Iran nuclear deal expected to provide Iran with up to a trillion dollars over the lifetime of the deal, a coalition of Republican lawmakers on Wednesday introduced new legislation that would bar the Biden administration from implementing the accord until it can certify to Congress that Iran has not engaged in assassination plots on Americans in five years. The bill, which is sponsored by Ernst and Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.), was sparked by Iran's ongoing efforts to assassinate former U.S. officials like former national security adviser John Bolton and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
