The State Department acknowledged on Tuesday that it can’t tell if Iran has used any of the money it’s recovered under the Iran nuclear agreement, an estimated $3 billion so far, to fund terrorist activities.
“We don’t know,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said when asked if any of the money has been diverted to terrorists. “We don’t have perfect knowledge on what has actually been freed up for them, and we don’t have perfect knowledge of how every dollar of that is going to be spent.”
Opponents of the Iran deal have complained that the billions of dollars in unfrozen money Iran will get under the deal will be used to fund terrorism.
Obama administration officials have been forced to admit that some of that money could be used for purposes the U.S. opposes, like terrorism. Kirby reiterated that again Tuesday.
“We stand by what the secretary said, that it’s entirely possible that they can use some of this funding to support terrorist networks,” he said.
“We don’t know means we don’t know,” Kirby said when pressed on whether none, some or all of the $3 billion might have been used to fund terrorism. “I would not even hazard an estimate.”
Kirby also admitted that the $3 billion Iran is thought to have received so far is “at best” an estimate.
While opponents of the deal have said it will give Iran access to as much as $150 billion, Kerry said in January that those estimates are “fictional.” Kerry said State believes Iran will get about $55 billion.
But in February, Kirby acknowledged that the U.S. would actually be releasing something closer to $100 billion in unfrozen assets. State defended the $55 billion figure by saying that’s how much Iran is expected to have left over after it pays off debts.
