Whistleblowers informed Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson that the Obama-Biden State Department “actively interfered” to obstruct the FBI from carrying out arrest warrants on individuals unlawfully present in the United States, who were purportedly aiding Iranian financial endeavors to advance weapons of mass destruction.
Fox News obtained letters from Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the issue.
The Obama-Biden administration initiated the Joint Plan of Action, which was the negotiation process for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, signed by President Obama in 2015. Obama asserted that broader sanctions would remain and be “vigorously” enforced by his administration.
For decades, during both Republican and Democratic administrations, the United States has imposed sanctions on Iranian individuals, companies, and organizations for their involvement in nuclear proliferation, ballistic missile development, support for terrorist groups, and human rights abuses.
However, Grassley and Johnson received unclassified and legally protected whistleblower disclosures indicating that while the Obama-Biden administration publicly committed to ‘preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons by raising the cost of Iran’s defiance of the international community,' then-Secretary of State John Kerry actively interfered with the FBI's execution of arrest warrants on individuals in the U.S. who were illegally supporting Iranian efforts, including financial efforts, to develop weapons of mass destruction and its ballistic missile program.”
According to the senators, the records reveal that the Justice Department and FBI leadership, including then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and then-FBI Director James Comey, “failed to take the necessary steps to stop Kerry’s obstructive efforts against law enforcement.”
One unclassified FBI email from August 25, 2017, detailed at least eight instances related to the Iran nuclear deal where “the FBI, DOJ, and the U.S. government could have moved forward with the cases, but the State Department chose to block them.”
According to the records, in six of these instances, the FBI “lost the opportunity to arrest the main subject.” One of the subjects the FBI was unable to arrest was “on the Terrorism Watch List” and another “returned to Iran.”
The email goes on, claiming that the State Department “blocked” one planned FBI arrest while the subject was “mid-flight, and the subject was forced to leave the U.S. immediately upon arrival.”
The email also claims that at least two targets were arrested only after “State lifted their block… since the new [Trump] Administration took office.”
“These warnings about the failure to arrest known Iranians subject to arrest warrants occurred as early as 2015 and were allegedly due to political reasons,” Grassley wrote.
Grassley and Johnson stated that additional unclassified FBI emails indicate the State Department's alleged interference in ongoing FBI investigations became such an issue that then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch had to discuss the matter with Secretary Kerry.
“The records provided to our office show that the Obama/Biden administration’s State Department, under the leadership of John Kerry, actively and persistently interfered with FBI operations pertaining to lawful arrests of known terrorists, members of Iranian proliferation networks, and other criminals providing material support for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” Johnson and Grassley wrote.
Grassley and Johnson said the records “also show that DOJ and FBI leadership apparently allowed it to happen until the Trump administration altered its course.”
A Nov. 29, 2016 email from Shell corporate to an FBI official within Comey’s office stated: “It appears that the Trump election win is having an impact on conducting business in Iran. We are set to sign a small deal in Iran this week (a $5 million licensing agreement). We were in discussions with a Japanese bank to handle the funds, but they have recently withdrawn, unofficially citing the impending Trump presidency. European banks are expressing similar sentiments. While it's a small amount of money, it's having a dampening effect on doing business in Iran.”
Ex-FBI official Peter Strzok was copied on that email.
Now, Grassley and Johnson are requesting records from email archives of Kerry, current CIA Director Bill Burns, Wendy Sherman, and current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to be provided by June 4th.
They are also requesting records containing terms such as Mohommad Javaz Zarif; the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA); the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA); Iran Nuclear Deal; Iran Proliferation/Counterproliferation; law enforcement actions related to Iranian citizens, including visa lures, extraditions, and related subject matter; as well as the case files for the eight mentioned cases.
Read the letters & records here.
