Barack Obama
Photo: AFP
Obama's Iran deal absolves dangerous potential terrorists
Politico reports that the Obama administration's January 2016 prisoner swap included dropping charges against 14 people believed to pose threat to national security; article cites interviews with key participants at all levels of government and an extensive review of court records and other documents.
The Obama administration prisoner exchange with Iran allegedly involved dropping prosecutions against more Iranian fugitives than previously known, including a top procurer of materials with nuclear application.
The Politico investigation published on Monday alleged that as far back as fall 2014—as negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal continued—the Obama administration dialed back significant investigations and prosecutions of Iranian procurement networks operating in the US.
Barack Obama (Photo: AFP)
The article cited interviews with key participants at all levels of government and an extensive review of court records and other documents.
Some of the seven men freed in the exchange in January 2016 were accused by the Obama administration’s Justice Department of posing threats to national security.
In addition to the seven freed, Politico reports that the Justice Department also dropped charges and international arrest warrants against 14 other fugitives.
Although their names and the details of their offenses were initially not made public, they have now been released by Politico—displaying multiple cases of alleged international crimes.
Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei (Photo: Reuters)
For example, three of the fugitives had sought to lease a Boeing aircraft for an Iranian airline that supported Hezbollah.
Additionally, one was caught trying to buy thousands of US assault rifles and ship them to Iran, while another was accused of smuggling US military antennas to Hong Kong and Singapore to be used in Iran, as well as being part of a network that provided Iran with material for deadly IEDs.
Most importantly, one fugitive was Seyed Abolfazl Shahab Jamili, charged with a scheme from 2005-2012 involving obtaining thousands of parts with nuclear applications for Iran from China, including US-made sensors.
Through its actions, the Obama administration undermined its high profile National Counter Proliferation Initiative “at a time when it was making unprecedented headway in thwarting Iran’s proliferation networks,” Politico reported.
Iran experiments with an anti-aircraft missile
It quoted former Obama administration officials, without identifying them, as saying that the dropping of charges was a result of weighing one exigency—pursuing a deal that they believed would neutralize Iran’s nuclear weapons capability—against another, pursuing the individuals seeking to advance that capability.
The prisoner exchange that took place in January 2016 was meant to secure the implementation of the nuclear deal reached in 2015 between six major powers and Iran that swapped sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, as well as gain the release of five Americans who were being held by the Islamic Republic.
At the time, the administration described the seven freed Iranians as “civilians” accused or suspected only of “sanctions-related offenses” and “violations of the trade embargo.”
Politico reported that many experienced agents and prosecutors now say they are reluctant to pursue counterproliferation cases for fear they won’t go anywhere.
President Trump and Obama (Photo: Reuters)
“It’s entirely possible that during the pendency of the negotiations, that folks who were doing their jobs, doing the investigations and bringing cases, having no understanding of and insight into the other process, were frustrated because they don’t feel like their stuff is moving forward,” an anonymous Obama official told Politico.
“Or they were not getting answers, because there are these entirely appropriate discussions happening on the policy side. That doesn’t strike me as being, a, unusual or, b, wrong,” the official added. “But I completely understand why it’s frustrating.”
New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in the House, told the New York Post that the report on the prisoner swap suggests that the Obama administration’s foreign policy was “brutally incompetent.” Senior officials from the Obama administration told Politico that the prisoner swap was “a bargain for the US,” and that the Justice Department and FBI vetted the 21 Iranians.
Last week, the Trump administration pledged to review US policy toward Iran, as have both houses of Congress. In certifying that Iran is living up to the deal in word, Trump said Iran is “not living up to the spirit of it.” On Monday, the president told The Associated Press that it is “possible” that the United States will not remain in the nuclear deal.
