DONATE →
The Threat from Tehran Image

On day one, the Biden-Harris Administration jettisoned President Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign and re-adopted the Obama-era policies that empowered the Iranian regime. Biden and Harris orchestrated an unprecedented sanctions relief on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism that has provided the regime access to around $100 billion dollars in ransom payments and oil sales, many of which have been diverted to support Tehran’s terrorist proxies.

Biden and Harris’ record on Iran is abysmal. These decisions have advanced Iran’s pursuit of regional hegemony, allowed its affiliates to destabilize the Middle East with impunity, and endangered the lives of American expats in the region. And they were taken even as Tehran tries to kill American diplomats like Mike Pompeo and even top generals in the Biden-Harris Administration. That’s madness and the very definition of weakness.

What Americans Need to Know

On day one, the Biden Administration jettisoned President Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign and re-adopted the Obama-era policies that empowered the Iranian regime. Biden orchestrated an unprecedented sanctions relief on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism that has provided the regime access to around $100 billion dollars in ransom payments and oil sales, many of which have been diverted to support Tehran’s terrorist proxies.

President Biden’s record on Iran is abysmal. These decisions have advanced Iran’s pursuit of regional hegemony, allowed its affiliates to destabilize the Middle East with impunity, and endangered the lives of American expats in the region. And they were taken even as Tehran tries to kill American diplomats like Mike Pompeo and even Biden’s top generals. That’s madness and the very definition of weakness.

We know what a second Biden term would bring: A new Iran deal that would be among the worst negotiated deal is decades. In the first term, Biden’s own political appointees quit in protest of his policies, his Iran Envoy has been under criminal investigation by the FBI, and even Democrats in Capitol Hill are sounding the alarm of his policies. Congress must reject Biden’s repeated appeasements and block any more blood money going to this evil regime.

Iranian terrorists have killed hundreds of American soldiers and chant “Death to America.” We have to stand up against Iran, not give them billions in sanctions relief.

Why should Americans care about stopping Iran?
  • The Iranian regime has killed hundreds of American citizens, is pursuing a nuclear weapon, and routinely calls for the destruction of the United States and Israel. We must believe our enemies when they publicly proclaim their evil plans and intentions.
  • Iran regularly tortures and murders its citizens when they protest, and the regime funnels billions of dollars into supporting terrorist organizations that kill Americans and sow destruction across the Middle East. Hamas’ barbaric October 7th attack did not happen in a vacuum; it was enabled and funded by an emboldened and enriched Iranian regime.
  • Right now, Iran is plotting to assassinate at least 10 Americans on U.S. soil. This includes former senior U.S. government officials including Donald Trump, Secretary Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisors John Bolton and Robert O’Brien, General Mark Milley, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and even some of Biden’s national security team. It has even tried to kidnap and kill an American citizen, Masih Alinejad from her home in Brooklyn. If we don’t stop Iran, their terrorists will come to our doorstep and attack us here.
Biden’s Dangerous Pursuit of an Iran Deal

Any nuclear deal reached by the Biden White House would give the Iranian regime at least $90 billion in sanctions relief the regime could use to spread terror across the Middle East with no restrictions. The Biden team is doing everything in its power to sidestep congressional oversight and preserve the ability to renegotiate an agreement.

Instead of understanding the threat from the Iranian regime, Biden’s negotiators deferred to Russian and Chinese diplomats to renegotiate Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the Iranian regime. The outcome has been disastrous.

Now, Congress is investigating evidence that President Biden’s special envoy to Iran, Rob Malley, shared classified material with foreign nationals—behavior for which he allegedly lost his security clearance and was placed on unpaid leave. Senior foreign policy officials divulging national secrets to advance misguided diplomatic efforts is a dereliction of duty and betrayal of the American people.

Biden’s New Iran Deal
  • The deal would lift sanctions against the regime’s most notorious terrorists, including a terrorist general responsible for the 1983 Beirut Barracks bombing that killed 241 American service members.
  • The deal’s restrictions would start expiring before they even start. In just a few years, Iran would be free to build a nuclear weapon with zero consequences or sanctions.
  • Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov, who led negotiations on behalf of Russia, has crowed that “Iran got much more than it could expect, much more,” and bragged about how Russia teamed up with China and Iran to get dozens of wins over the United States and European negotiating positions.
  • Under Biden’s deal, Iran would be free to buy or sell nuclear weapon delivery systems, including ballistic missiles, from Russia or China all legally starting in October 2023.
  • The prioritization of Iranian interests over other relations has been dangerous to U.S. national security, the stability of the Middle East, and the Iranian people who suffer most under that brutal regime. Congress must reject any deal emanating from such discussions and force President Biden to get serious about enforcing the sanctions that are required under U.S. law.
  • We need to give Israel everything they need to defend themselves against Iranian aggression and the tools they need to destroy Iran’s nuclear program if they decide that is necessary.
Biden’s Hostage Deal
  • Last August, the Biden Administration released approximately $6 billion in frozen assets to Tehran in exchange for the release of five Americans held hostage in Evin Prison. Is there anything that encourages U.S. citizen hostage-taking more than paying ransom to America’s enemies?
  • The Obama White House gave $1.7 billion – including $400 million in pallets of cash – to Iran in 2016, setting the stage for Americans to be taken across the world. Seven years later, Biden provided a $6 billion ransom payment in direct violation of our longstanding no-concessions policy. Now the price for Americans abroad has risen to $1.2 billion per head.
  • While the Blinken State Department insists these funds will only be expended for “humanitarian purposes,” nothing could be further from the truth. Whether applied directly to terrorist and proliferation efforts or indirectly by freeing up finances for those activities, Biden’s ransom payments are fueling the very geopolitical instability the White House purports to object. The Iranian regime must receive isolation for taking hostages, not billions of dollars.
  • Thanks to Biden’s concessions to Iran, the United States is also now funding both sides of the war in Ukraine. While we are funding the Ukrainian resistance, we are also providing Iran money to build drones and missiles they sell to Russia to kill Ukrainians.
Biden’s Failed Sanctions

The Trump Administration withdrew from Obama’s nuclear deal and imposed heavy sanctions on the Iranian regime, depriving them of $200 billion they could have spent on terrorism. In 2020, at the height of the Trump Administration’s Maximum Pressure Campaign, Iran only exported $6.6 billion worth of oil to China. In 2022, Iran exported around $30 billion of oil. Those funds go to kill Iranian protesters, fund terror groups, and strengthen Iran’s military.

The Biden Administration has completely failed to uphold U.S. law and enforce sanctions on Iran – particularly against its export of oil that fuels the regime’s war and terror machine. We need to maintain sanctions on Iran until they sign a strong deal that prevents them from ever getting a nuclear weapon.

Biden has looked the other way as Iran has sold its terror oil around the world and refused to sanction the regime. Those oil sales fund terrorism that is used to kill Americans. Since October 7, 2023, alone, the Iranian regime and its terror proxies have attacked U.S. forces, bases, and assets at least 170 times. This administration has only responded a handful of times.

Here are just a few of the many actions the Biden took that encouraged Iranian aggression:

  • February 18, 2021: President Biden unilaterally removes travel restrictions against Iranian “diplomats” in New York City and cancels UN sanctions against Iran. This decision allowed Iran to legally buy and sell tanks, planes, and submarines, and dangerous weapons across the globe. There was no Iranian concession in return.
  • June 2021: Biden officials engaged in “indirect talks” with the Iranian regime in Vienna, agreeing to talks with intermediaries instead of meeting in person, signaling a desperation for a deal, and showing weakness by agreeing to Iranian negotiating posture.
  • January 2022: On the eve of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden Administration grants eight waivers for cooperation with Iran’s nuclear program, permitting a $10 billion nuclear deal between Iran and Russia to proceed.
  • March 2022: The Biden administration offers enormous policy concessions, including lifting terror sanctions from the Central Bank of Iran and its oil export industries as well as against senior terror leaders in exchange for Iran’s return to the JCPOA. Biden even contemplates lifting the terrorist designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
  • July 2022: The administration fails to respond forcefully to Iranian drone attacks on U.S. forces in the region. The inaction signals the administration’s reluctance to confront Iranian aggression and attacks.
  • January 2023: The IAEA finds Iran enriched uranium up to 83.7 percent purity, but the Biden Administration refuses to censure Iran at the IAEA’s Board of Governors Meeting.
  • August 2023: Biden administration officials admit they have secretly allowed Iran to export oil to China without sanctions, looking the other way to facilitate a secret hostage deal.
  • September 2023: The Biden Administration engages in the most expensive hostage payment in history, releasing five Iranian nationals convicted in U.S. courts and unfreezing $6 billion in assets in exchange for five U.S. hostages, rewarding Iran’s hostage taking and encouraging Hamas to believe it can negotiate handsome concessions for the release of hostages.
  • October 2023: Iran’s oil exports rise, despite sanctions – The administration’s poor enforcement of sanctions allows Iran to strengthen its economy and support militant groups, such as Hamas, which recently escalated attacks on Israel.
  • May 2024: The State Department issues “official condolences” for the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash. Subsequently, Biden’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood stands to honor them for a moment of silence.
  • May 2024: The Biden Administration presses European allies not to rebuke Iran for advances in its nuclear program and urges against an IAEA censure resolution.

Policy Memorandums

Fact Sheet: Biden’s Failure to Deter Iran

Fact Sheet: Biden’s Failure to Deter Iran

Hamas’ barbaric October 7th attack did not happen in a vacuum. While their hatred of Israel and of Jews is permanent, the attack was enabled by an emboldened and enriched Iranian regime, responding to years of weak policy from the Biden administration. In the past month, Iranian proxies have attacked U.S. forces in the Middle East 40 times, earning only one response from Biden that killed no terrorists.

Find Out More →

Latest Updates

Morgan Ortagus Joins Varney & Co.

Morgan Ortagus Joins Varney & Co.

Hezbollah and the rest of Iran’s proxies have worked to undermine all legitimate governments in the region.

View Now On Youtube →
Morgan Ortagus Joins Outnumbered

Morgan Ortagus Joins Outnumbered

Iran’s terror tactics on U.S. soil are not new. The Iranian regime has: 1. Targeted national security officials from both parties. 2. Attempted to intervene in our 2024 election - in Harris’s favor. 3. Funded …

View Now On Youtube →
Morgan Ortagus Joins Varney & Co.

Morgan Ortagus Joins Varney & Co.

We cannot regard Hamas as a legitimate state actor. Sinwar is happy to kill his own people in the name of his furthering his own power. Biden and Harris must stop delaying shipments to Israel and publicly critiquing …

View Now On Youtube →