Republicans are agreed: Biden’s paying for hostages is a bad idea

The world’s media has reported that the Biden administration has freed five dual-national hostages by unblocking six billion dollars from Iran’s frozen funds. This announcement came on the eve of the 2022 uprising anniversary, which started with the spark of Mahsa Amini’s murder. The money will significantly help a regime damaged by the events of the past year.

With the money, Khamenei can embolden his forces and equip his regime, increasing its power to suppress the protests. Facilitating the regime’s ongoing terrorism and hostage-taking will harm world peace. No wonder the response to the news has been negative, both in the United States and abroad. Joe Biden’s opponents have loudly stated that paying ransom to the mullahs’ regime encourages terrorists to extort money by taking hostages.

Mike Pence, the former Vice President of the United States, announced: “While I welcome the release of the American hostages, the American people should know that the President of the United States Biden has authorized the largest ransom payment in American history to the Mullahs in Tehran.”

Image: An AI generated picture of Khamenei and Biden. Pixlr AI.

Senator Jim Risch (R-Iowa), a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted: “While I welcome home wrongfully detained Americans, unfreezing $6B in Iranian assets dangerously further incentivizes hostage-taking and provides a windfall for regime aggression.”

“While we always welcome the release of American hostages—if they are in fact released after President Biden pays Iran $6 billion in ransom—this craven act of appeasement will only embolden the ayatollahs to take more hostages,” warned Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the Biden administration for apparently buying the release of jailed Americans in Iran. He said that paying for the Americans’ release will “will build their [Iran’s] economy” and encourage more hostage-taking.

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis wrote about the exchange of American hostages for $6 billion in ransom to the Iranian regime:

Biden is shamefully caving to Iran’s blackmail and extortion. Rewarding Iran for taking Americans hostage incentivizes more hostage-taking. The $6 billion ransom payment will help Iran build nuclear weapons, support terrorism, oppress the Iranian people, and assist Russia. Biden’s appeasement and weakness embolden Iran to attack us and our allies and facilitates Iran becoming closer than ever to nuclear weapons. Biden must stop obsessively pursuing disastrous deals that endanger our security. It is time to stand up to Iran with maximum pressure and roll back Iran’s malign influence.

In the meantime, Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei and his propaganda machine are trying to portray blackmail by taking hostages as an achievement, and Iran’s government newspapers call it honorable diplomacy and a humanitarian perspective. However, this issue has created a wave of disgust among the people of Iran, along with taunts, and they say that all this money goes into the pockets of Khamenei and the IRGC and brings us inflation along with repression with more advanced suppressive types of equipment.

Hassan Mahmoudi, Iran & Middle East political and economic researcher.