Iran International:

This week, US President Joe Biden is confronted with a critical decision regarding a $10 billion sanctions waiver for Iran – and whether to renew it, or not.

With the ongoing war in Gaza and continued attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, the deadline could not come at a worse moment for the administration.

Last year, the US extended the sanctions waiver by four months, allowing Iraq to continue purchasing electricity from Iran.

Additionally, the waiver granted Iran limited access to approximately $10 billion in Iraqi payments held in escrow accounts, ostensibly for purchasing "humanitarian goods" without facing US sanctions.

However, both Republicans and Democrats swiftly challenged this decision, contending that the fungibility of money would effectively empower the Tehran regime to divert these funds towards arming its proxies, despite the humanitarian guise.

As of today, details of Iran's utilization of the sanctions-waived funds remain largely unclear.

During a December 2023 hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, Elizabeth Rosenberg, the assistant secretary of the US Treasury Department, acknowledged the existence of "two transactions” by Iran.

She added that she would only provide additional detail about those transactions in a classified setting.

If the administration’s plan was to keep the region – and Iran – quiet until after the 2024 US election – the recent developments have proven that plan to have backfired.

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