Iranian president reveals plans for spending $6 billion gained in US prisoner exchange

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Retired Navy SEAL rips Biden admin's prisoner swap deal with Iran

Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy reacts to the deal with Iran to swap prisoners and release $6 billion in frozen funds. Sheehy also discusses his effort to oust Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 2024.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says the Iranian government will spend the $6 billion it gained in a prisoner exchange with the U.S., "wherever we need it."

Raisi made the comments in an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt on Tuesday after coming to an agreement with the U.S. to release five American prisoners. In exchange, the U.S. will release five Iranian citizens and unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil assets previously locked up in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions.

"This money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money," Raisi said Tuesday. "Humanitarian means whatever the Iranian people needs, so this money will be budgeted for those needs and the needs of the Iranian people will be decided and determined by the Iranian government."

Under the deal, Iran will only have access to the funds through Qatar's central bank, and U.S. officials say the bank will ensure Iran only uses the funds for humanitarian purposes.

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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says the Iranian government will spend the $6 billion it gained in a prisoner exchange with the U.S., "wherever we need it." (Marco Longari/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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The deal has garnered some criticism. Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who focuses on Iranian security, argued that releasing the funds "will only feed Tehran's appetite to keep taking hostages."

"The problem, one even recognized by the Obama administration, has long been that oil revenues don’t trickle down to the Iranian people. Instead, they are used to fund Iran’s nuclear and military programs and underwrite its global terrorist apparatus," he said.

Under the Biden administration's deal, Iran will only have access to the funds through Qatar's central bank, and U.S. officials say the bank will ensure Iran only uses the funds for humanitarian purposes. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"If the Islamic Republic cared an iota about the Iranian people’s wishes and well-being they wouldn’t have abused humanitarian exemptions in past sanctions regime to generate illicit revenues or preferentially import luxury goods instead of food and medicine," he added.

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Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, expressed skepticism that Iran will actually use the funds for humanitarian projects.

"President Biden is going through with his $6 BILLION payout to the IRGC and its proxies. This will only greenlight Iran’s illicit actions and encourage further hostage 'diplomacy'" Ernst wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "Biden’s failed strategy of appeasement must end."

Adrienne Watson, National Security Council spokesperson, said in a statement, "On September 8, Secretary Blinken undertook a procedural step in an ongoing process to ensure Iranian funds can move from one restricted account to another and remain restricted to humanitarian trade. As we have said from the outset, what is being pursued here is an arrangement wherein we secure the release of 5 wrongfully held Americans. This remains a sensitive and ongoing process. While this is a step in the process, no individuals have been or will be released into U.S. custody this week. We have kept Congress extensively informed from the outset of this process - long before today - and we will continue to do so, including with additional already scheduled briefings this week."

Iran is giving up five American prisoners in exchange for five Iranian citizens and $6 billion in funds. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

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Iran has not publicly provided a timeline for the release of the American prisoners. Raisi says each of them are in good health, however, and that they will be released in "due time."