Blinken: Iran Has ‘Always Been Entitled to Use’ Their Oil Money

Wednesday on CBS Mornings, Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded to concerns that the money given to Iran by the prisoner swap will free up other funds to be spent on malign activity, such as supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, by stating that “even allowing for that, these monies, these proceeds from Iran’s oil sales, they’ve always been entitled to use.”

Co-host Tony Dokoupil said, “If I give you $5 that you can spend on humanitarian aid, that frees up another $5 to spend on, I don’t know, drones, missiles, weapons that you might send to your friend Russia to fight in Ukraine.”

Blinken responded, “Again, even allowing for that, these monies, these proceeds from Iran’s oil sales, they’ve always been entitled to use. Just as a practical matter, they couldn’t. But the other thing is, whether we like it or not — and we don’t like it — the Iranians have always found ways to use money, whether there are sanctions or not, for military purposes. And we are taking steps every single day around the world to try to stop or disrupt the kinds of things that they’re engaged in — support for terrorism, destabilizing countries — that are having a profoundly negative effect around the world.”

And yet Blinken and the Biden administration just handed over billions of dollars to Iran which it will use for more of those destabilizing, terroristic actions. But hey, they’re entitled to it.