President Obama dropped charges against several Iranians investigated for smuggling weapons technology and his administration slow-walked prosecutions against other Iranians in order to protect the nuclear deal with Iran, according to a new report.
Politico reported Monday Obama’s actions angered federal prosecutors and investigators who were tasked with tracking down the Iranians, who were thought to be national security risks. The Obama administration dropped charges and ended searches for 14 Iranians in a low-key manner that managed to fly under the radar, and released seven other Iranians in a prisoner swap.
Those Iranians were portrayed as civilians who were sanctions violators, but the reality of their charges were much more severe, including one man who smuggled high-tech components of explosives used on American soldiers in Iraq.
The administration also wouldn’t allow some investigators to lure Iranians to countries with favorable extradition treaties with the United States so they could be arrested. The State and Justice Departments also slowed extradition of some Iranians who were in custody overseas in order to build goodwill with Iran.
According to the report, the Obama White House was actively involved in these decisions.
“This is a scandal. The cases bear all the hallmarks of exactly the kinds of national security threats we’re still going after. It’s stunning and hard to understand why we would do this,” said Valerie Lincy, executive director of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.
