Following recent Hamas attacks on Israel, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced a new bill on Wednesday to immediately halt the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds held in South Korea, which were slated for transfer to Iran as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States.

This concise two-page bill reinstates specific sanctions on Iran and bars the “Waiver of Sanctions with Respect to the Transfer of Funds from the Republic of Korea to Qatar,” a waiver that was submitted to Congress on September 11. The bill is now garnering strong bipartisan backing, Breitbart News reported.

It comes just two days after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California called on President Joe Biden to suspend the funds once more, asserting that “Biden’s policy on appeasement, including money for hostage deals, must come to an end.”

McConnell and Cotton have indicated their intention to request unanimous consent for the bill’s passage, with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, being among the Democrats supporting it.

Written by staff