{"id":2076270,"date":"2023-10-23T08:55:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/manchin-blasts-6-billion-prisoner-swap-with-iran-i-never-was-for-that\/"},"modified":"2023-10-23T08:58:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T12:58:04","slug":"manchin-blasts-6-billion-prisoner-swap-with-iran-i-never-was-for-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/manchin-blasts-6-billion-prisoner-swap-with-iran-i-never-was-for-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchin criticizes $6B Iran prisoner swap: &#8216;I never supported it&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmanchin-blasts-6-billion-prisoner-swap-with-iran-i-never-was-for-that%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2076270&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Sen. Joe Manchin Criticizes Biden&#8217;s Prisoner Swap Deal with\u2062 Iran<\/h2>\n<p>Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) expressed his \u200bstrong opposition\u2062 to President \u2063Joe Biden&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/iranian-state-television-claims-biden-admin-agreed-to-unfreeze-7-billion-for-prisoner-swap-biden-admin-claims-its-not-true\/\" title=\"Iranian State Television Claims Biden Admin Agreed To Unfreeze  Billion For Prisoner Swap. Biden Admin Claims It\u2019s Not True.\">prisoner swap deal<\/a> with Iran in a \u200drecent interview. He made it clear\u2062 that he was never in favor of the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>In September, \u200dthe Biden administration reached a \u2064deal with Iran, releasing five\u2064 prisoners from each side\u200b and \u2063unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian assets. The purpose of this unfreezing was to allow Iran to use \u200dthe funds for humanitarian purposes, such as purchasing\u200d food and medicine.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe prisoner swap, the\u200c $6\u200b billion, I never was for that,\u201d Manchin told Politico.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>However, shortly \u2062after the swap took place, the Iran-backed terrorist group \u200bHamas launched a series of attacks\u2064 on Israel. \u200dThese attacks resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the taking of over 200 hostages in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>This terrorist\u2063 attack brought Biden&#8217;s prisoner swap deal into\u2064 the spotlight, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-arrives-for-deposition-in-defamation-case-from-laptop-repair-shop-owner\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden arrives for deposition in defamation case involving laptop repair shop owner.\">drawing intense scrutiny<\/a>. Republicans were quick \u200cto criticize the decision and called on \u200cthe president to refreeze the money. As the\u200c conflict in\u200d Israel escalated,\u2063 Democratic senators, including those from swing \u200cstates, also began criticizing\u2064 the unfreezing of \u200cIranian assets.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe want to be \u2062sure that we\u2019re not doing anything to \u2064support Iran in this time\u200c or giving Hamas \u2063or Hezbollah any assets or any support, which we know\u200c that they\u2019re both proxies of Iran,\u201d Sen. Jacky Rosen \u200d(D-NV) said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Last week, Sen. Manchin and 23 other senators introduced\u2062 the Revoke Iranian Funding Act,\u200b a\u200c bipartisan legislation\u2062 aimed at rescinding\u2062 the licenses that allowed the $6 billion to be unfrozen.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cTo demonstrate our commitment to Israel, we must hold\u200d Iran accountable for their sponsorship \u200cof Hamas and other terrorist organizations,\u201d \u200cManchin \u200dstated. \u201cOur bipartisan legislation will halt efforts to provide billions of dollars to Iran and make \u200bsure Congress has \u2062the information to act against the\u2064 world\u2019s \u200dleading sponsor of\u200c terrorism.\u2062 We \u2064must do \u200ceverything we can to protect our greatest \u200cally in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>After\u200d facing\u200c pressure from both\u2063 sides of the aisle, the Biden administration assured reporters that Iran has not yet accessed the unfrozen funds. Additionally, Deputy Treasury \u200cSecretary Wally Adeyemo reportedly\u2063 informed Democratic lawmakers that the administration and \u200bthe Qatari government have reached\u200c an understanding to prevent Iran from accessing the funds, which are currently held \u200cin a bank in the country.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What concerns does Manchin express regarding the Biden administration&#8217;s lack of transparency and consultation \u2063in\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/manchin-blasts-6-billion-prisoner-swap-with-iran-i-never-was-for-that\/\" title=\"Manchin criticizes B Iran prisoner swap: 'I never supported it'\">decisions involving national\u2063 security<\/a> and foreign \u2064policy?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  P Hezbollah launched a series of attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq. Manchin pointed out\u2062 that \u200bthis\u2062 attack clearly demonstrated Iran&#8217;s true intentions and showed that the \u200bdeal was a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We should have never\u2062 done that swap,&#8221; Manchin said. &#8220;They started these attacks on\u200b us right after that, which shows the bad \u200dfaith from Iran. I just never thought\u2062 that was a good deal at all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Manchin&#8217;s concerns are not unfounded. Iran has a long history of supporting terrorist\u2062 groups and destabilizing\u2062 the region. By releasing Iranian prisoners and \u2063unfreezing assets, the Biden administration may have inadvertently financed these activities \u2063and given Iran an opportunity to further its malign agenda.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2062 senator&#8217;s criticism also stems from the lack of \u2062transparency and consultation by the administration. Manchin emphasized the importance of involving Congress in such decisions, especially when they have far-reaching implications for national security.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These are the types of things that should be shared with the briefings we had, and should\u2019ve had,\u2062 with the \u2064intelligence agencies and, also, the Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, so we could have some input on it,&#8221; he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Manchin&#8217;s \u2063opposition to the deal is not \u200dsurprising, \u200cas he has\u200b often positioned himself as a\u200c moderate Democrat and has previously expressed concerns about the \u200bBiden administration&#8217;s approach \u2062to foreign policy. In August, he\u2064 was \u200done of the\u200c few Democrats who voted against the confirmation of U.S. Ambassador to\u200b the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.<\/p>\n<p>While Manchin&#8217;s criticism highlights the potential \u2062risks\u2062 and flaws \u2062of the prisoner swap deal, it remains to be seen how the Biden administration will address these concerns and navigate its relationship with Iran moving forward. As the administration continues to engage\u200d with Iran and\u200d work \u200ctowards reviving the nuclear\u200c deal, \u2064it will\u2062 be crucial to ensure that U.S. \u2063interests are \u2063protected \u200band that Iran&#8217;s nefarious activities are not inadvertently \u2062facilitated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) criticized President Biden&#8217;s Iran prisoner swap, stating he never supported it. The deal, made in September, involved releasing five prisoners from each side and unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian assets for humanitarian purposes, which Manchin disapproved of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2076271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2076270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2076271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2076270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2076270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2076270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}