Iran Claims Republicans Tried To Delay Return Of US Prisoners Until After The Election

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:45 pm

Making a claim that sadly seems plausible on the surface, an Iranian official accused Republicans of asking Tehran to delay the recent prisoner exchange until after the presidential election.

Tasmin News reported:

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said a recent prisoner exchange between Iran and the US went ahead as planned despite calls by Republicans for a delay until US presidential elections.

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“In the course of the talks for exchanging prisoners, the Republican rivals of the current US administration who claim to be humanitarians and advocates of human rights sent a message telling us not to release these people (American prisoners) and continue this process (of talks) until the eve of US presidential elections,†Shamkhani said Thursday in an address to a rally held in the central city of Yazd to mark the 37th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution’s victory.

“However†he said “we acted upon our independent resolve and moved the process forward.â€

That’s a serious allegation implying that Republicans would have let the prisoners, who were released on January 16th, rot in jail for political purposes. But Republicans have let the U.S. go without funding at all for political purposes, so it would be foolish to suggest that they wouldn’t do this for ethical or moral reasons.

It seems like the smartest reason they wouldn’t have done this is they could have been caught. Shamkhani didn’t say how this request was made, for example. It is most likely at attempt to spread propaganda about how they stood up to the United States, as the article continued on paraphrasing him, “Iran proved that it is not influenced by any foreign or domestic pressure but acts against spies and infiltrators decisively.”

The problem for Republicans is that this claim, which might well be false bravado, actually sounds reasonable given their behavior. This seems exactly like something they would do.

This wouldn’t be the first time Republicans have tried to sabotage the Iran deal. In July of 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu indirectly admitted that he was working with Republicans in Congress to kill President Obama’s Iran deal.

This, of course, is treason. Republicans worked with a foreign agent against the foreign policy of the President.

So it’s not a stretch to suppose that there could be some truth to Shamkhani’s claims. Republicans have spent years “investigating” various Democrats and organizations that help the poor based on less evidence than this, so they have absolutely no room to complain if this charge is used against them. In fact they will be lucky if Democrats don’t push for an investigation into their sabotage of the Iran deal. There is no low too low for the party of Donald Trump.

The Republicans of this era are becoming the Democrats of the 60s, known for anarchy and treason. One can almost believe any accusation made against them, since they themselves proudly display their arrogant defiance of government, of process, of hierarchy and of this President.

That doesn’t make this true.

But the fact that this charge goes along with previous Republican behavior points to a huge political problem for the Republican party, which has worked against its own country in service of its political agenda and masters one too many times to cry foul.



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