Biden Didn’t Give Billions to Iran
The Claim
U.S. Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden gave $150 billion to Iran.
News posted on
Emerging story
In mid-September 2020, users on social media spread the claim, deriding Biden for his ostensible choice to send Iran billions.
Misbar’s Analysis
In the mid 2010’s, many countries led a coordinated effort to ensure that Iran has no nuclear weapons. In order to incentivize this, several countries – including the US – lifted sanctions on Iran. This was a fairly controversial move, especially amongst the GOP. Conservatives, including Trump, said that Obama and Biden gave Iran billions.
However, Misbar found that the $150 billion figure is probably made up. In 2015, frozen assets under sanctions were released, as per the terms of the deal. No estimate ever – except the figure the GOP offered – said it released that much. Iran’s central bank said that they would receive access to $29 billion in available funds. US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that Iran would get $50 billion. There are still some assets that are still frozen.
Even if the GOP’s figures were true, they would still be wrong. What Biden did was lift sanctions, which is not the same as giving someone money. Giving money implies that taxpayer money went to Iran, which was not the case. It was their own money that was given back to them.
