Obama Administration Skirted U.S. Sanctions to Grant Iran Billions in Cash

New investigation reveals secret talks between U.S., Iran to deliver cash

The Obama administration skirted key U.S. sanctions to grant Iran access to billions in hard currency despite public assurances the administration was engaged in no such action, according to a new congressional investigation.

The investigation, published Wednesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, further discloses secret efforts by top Obama administration officials to assure European countries they would receive a pass from U.S. sanctions if they engaged in business with Iran.

The findings confirm earlier reports by the Washington Free Beacon surrounding efforts by the Obama administration to go above and beyond the terms of the landmark nuclear deal to appease Iran and grant it billions in hard currency, as well as access to the U.S financial system, despite multiple assurances to Congress this was not the case.

Congressional investigators have now confirmed that the Obama administration ordered the Treasury Department to issue a secret license granting Iran access to the U.S. financial system and American dollar, a process that played out at the same time these senior administration officials were testifying to Congress that they were not engaged in such activities.

The investigation confirms allegations by many in Congress that the Obama administration was engaged in covert diplomacy with senior Iranian officials beyond the nuclear agreement to help Tehran obtain billions in hard currency, cash that was later used by the Islamic Republic to fund its ballistic missile program and fighting forces operating in Syria and across the region.

"The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," said Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "Despite claims both before and after the Iran deal was completed that the U.S. financial system would remain off limits, the Obama administration issued a specific license allowing Iran to convert billions of dollars in assets using the U.S. financial system."

Several days after the Obama administration announced the implementation of the nuclear agreement, U.S. officials were contacted by Bank Muscat in Oman, which was seeking to convert nearly six billion dollars on Iran's behalf.

Bank Muscat petitioned the Obama administration to allow it to access the U.S. dollar in order to conduct the transition, which was to be carried out from Omani rials, into U.S. dollars, and then into Euros. That money would then be transferred into the Central Bank of Iran, or CBI, which was long designated for sanctions by the United States as a result of its efforts to fund Iran's terror operations and nuclear program.

"The inability to convert the funds held at Bank Muscat through the U.S. financial system frustrated key Iranian officials," according to the congressional investigation. "On January 24, 2016, a lead Iranian negotiator, wrote to his U.S. State Department counterpart, complaining that Iran could not convert its assets as it requested."

While such transactions remained prohibited under the nuclear agreement, also known as the JCPOA, senior Obama administration officials in the State and Treasury Departments scrambled to find back-door methods to appease Iran.

In one email obtained by congressional investigators, a Treasury Department official says that the United States committed much more to Iran than was publicly disclosed at the time by the Obama administration.

"Yikes. It looks like we committed to a whole lot beyond just allowing the immobilized funds to settle out," the official wrote.

While the administration was not obligated to conduct any such transactions on Iran's behalf, Obama administration officials decided to pressure the Treasury Department to issue a secret license permitting Iran to access the $5.7 billion from Oman's Bank Muscat using the U.S. financial system, according to the investigation.

"Treasury Department officials began working on a specific license authorizing Bank Muscat's transaction," the report finds. "A specific license allows specified transactions to occur that would otherwise violate U.S. sanctions."

http:// freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-administration-skirted-u-s-sanctions-grant-iran-billions-cash/

U.N. Accused of Doctoring Video to Erase Leading Pro-Israel Speaker’s Credentials

Speaker gave scathing speech on anti-Semitism, anti-Israel hatred at event at U.N.

The United Nations is facing accusations it doctored an official video to remove all mention of a leading pro-Israel speaker's credentials ahead of a scathing speech accusing the international organization of promoting anti-Semitism and hatred against Israel, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Professor Anne Bayefsky, the director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, was recently invited by the Israeli government to speak at an event at the U.N. on anti-Semitism and the harmful impact of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS, a global campaign to economically isolate the Jewish state that has widely been discredited as anti-Semitic in nature. Bayefsky specifically addressed anti-Semitism at the U.N. itself.

In an official video of the May 30 event posted on the U.N.'s website, Bayefsky's identity, credentials, and longstanding status as a leading expert on anti-Semitism were initially erased, leaving a confusing gap that she claims diminished the speech's impact.

Bayefsky, a vocal critic of the U.N.'s anti-Israel bias, alleged in a subsequent video highlighting the U.N.'s deletion that the international body was engaged in an attempt to revise history and weaken a speech that called out in stark terms the entire U.N. for its promotion of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policies.

U.N. officials who spoke to the Free Beacon admitted the original video deleted all mention of Bayefsky's credentials, but explained this was due to a technical issue that was rectified soon after the Free Beacon began its initial inquiries in the matter.

"This meeting is now available on UN Web TV website in its entirety," a U.N. official said. "Please note that as a matter of policy we don't edit out any portion of recorded videos of meetings."

The particular video in question—part of "Evolving Hatred—Antisemitism and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions," an event organized by Israel's permanent mission to the U.N.—experienced technical glitches during its recording in the U.N.'s video system, the official explained.

"We managed to fix that technical problem on Friday night," the official said, explaining the initial delay in posting video of the event. "On Monday morning, my colleagues published the video on UN Web TV website."

After the initial posting, the Israeli Mission notified the U.N. that "about two minutes of the recorded video was missing," the portion featuring Bayefsky's introduction and explanation of her credentials.

The video was fixed and posted in full to the U.N.'s site late Tuesday, hours after the Free Beacon inquired into the matter.

The missing portion has now been reinserted into the video.

It now includes the full introduction of Bayefsky: "I would now like to welcome Ms. Anne Bayefsky, a champion for human rights and for the State of Israel. Ms. Bayefsky is the director of the Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust at Touro College and she is the president of the organization Human Rights Voices. She is a scholar and an expert in international human rights law, equality rights, and constitutional human rights law. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Anne Bayefsky."

Bayefsky told the Free Beacon that the U.N. has engaged in "historical revisionism" in the past, but that she had not anticipated the original video being edited in such a fashion.

http:// freebeacon.com/issues/u-n-accused-doctoring-video-erase-leading-pro-israel-speakers-credentials/

"The U.N. has long specialized in historical revisionism, but changing history within a week is a new twist," she said. "Of course they're afraid of the facts on U.N.-driven anti-Semitism. But the solution isn't editorial creativity."

Republicans Target U.S. Environmental Group Over Connections to China

Group takes 'adversarial approach' to U.S., refrains from criticizing Chinese officials

Two senior Republican members of the House Natural Resources Committee have opened a probe into the Natural Resources Defense Council’s connections to the Chinese government, indicating that the environmental group must register as a foreign agent because of its work to influence U.S. policy on behalf of Beijing.

"The NRDC's relationship with China has many of the criteria identified by U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement as putting an entity at risk of being influenced or coerced by foreign interests"

"It appears there's a double standard there, so one of the things that we want to find out is why they want to create one standard for the U.S. defense forces and U.S. industries and another standard for the Chinese"

In a letter sent Tuesday to NRDC President Rhea Suh, Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R., Utah) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Bruce Westerman (R., Ark.) ordered the organization to turn over any documents related to its dealings with China.

The congressmen said the NRDC "appears to practice self-censorship, issue selection bias, and generally refrains from criticizing Chinese officials" when dealing with environmental issues that involve Beijing, while taking an "adversarial approach" to the United States.

They cited attempts by the NRDC to stop or curb U.S. naval exercises in the Pacific through several lawsuits that have accused the Navy of harming marine life with its anti-submarine warfare drills and use of long-range sonar. Meanwhile, the lawmakers say NRDC has been silent on Beijing's island building in the South China Sea.

"It appears there's a double standard there, so one of the things that we want to find out is why they want to create one standard for the U.S. defense forces and U.S. industries and another standard for the Chinese," Westerman told the Washington Free Beacon. "It gets back to a pay-to-play scenario—are they really looking out for environmental issues, or are they just trying to establish a foothold and are they willing to do what ever they can to keep that foothold?"

The lawmakers said the group might be in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people or organizations to disclose to the Justice Department when they lobby in the United States on behalf of foreign governments.

"The Committee is concerned about the NRDC's role in aiding China's perception management efforts with respect to pollution control and its international standing on environmental issues in ways that may be detrimental to the United States," the lawmakers wrote. "The NRDC's relationship with China has many of the criteria identified by U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement as putting an entity at risk of being influenced or coerced by foreign interests."

The letter cites a Free Beacon report on a classified CIA document detailing China's far-reaching foreign influence operations campaign in the United States, which imparts financial incentives as leverage to permeate American institutions. The FBI and Justice Department have raised similar concerns.

The NRDC defended its operations in China, the world's No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, as a necessary step to protect Americans "against dangerous pollution."

"As the most populous country on Earth, China has much to do with the kind of world the next generation will inherit, in our country and around the world," the group said in a statement.

Bishop and Westerman said the probe is part of a broader effort to hinder foreign interference into U.S. energy and environmental policy. NRDC has until June 12 to respond to their letter.

http:// freebeacon.com/issues/republicans-target-u-s-environmental-group-connections-china/