During an interview with the Fox News Channel aired on Friday’s broadcast of “The Story,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that the U.S. is “watching” the $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen by a prisoner swap deal that the administration brokered closely and none of the money has been accessed.
Host Martha MacCallum stated, “[W]e have this issue — and I know there’s a lot of back and forth over this — of the $6 billion and why the White House can’t just come forward and say that that money is absolutely not available, not that it hasn’t been touched, but that if it were asked [for] or requested, that it would be denied.”
Kirby responded, “We’re watching that money like a hawk, as you might imagine, Martha. And you’re right, not a dime of it has been spent. And we’re watching it very, very closely. That’s about as far as I’m going to go on that today.”
Later, MacCallum asked, “So, why not say that they are not — they will not be permitted to tap into any of the 6 billion, rather than you’re watching it? So, that sounds like you could watch them come access some of it.”
Kirby responded, “They haven’t accessed a dime of it. We’re watching this very, very closely. And I also think it’s very important to remind, that, even if they did try — let’s say they tried to access it last week, and there was an approved transaction, it wouldn’t be $6 billion. It would be something much smaller than that. What would happen is, Martha, is that we would validate whether or not it was a sufficient and approved request like for food, medicine, crops, that kind of thing. And then we would select the vendors who would go buy that stuff and then ship it into Iran directly through humanitarian organizations to get to the Iranian people. The regime in Tehran would never see a dime of it. When we say access it, I want to make it clear to your viewers, it’s not like they get to cut a check and that the regime gets that money. They never get it. And that is the exact same arrangement that Secretary Pompeo, when he was Secretary of State, set up under the previous administration. We didn’t change those rules.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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