Iran sanctions relief likely to benefit terrorists

DAVOS, Switzerland — It’s likely that some of the billions of dollars in sanctions relief granted to Iran under a landmark nuclear deal will go to groups deemed to be terrorists, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday. But, he added, he doesn’t believe Iran will be able to use the freed-up cash to boost funding of malign activities if it is serious about revamping its economy.

Kerry said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum that the U.S. or others can do little to prevent the unfrozen assets from getting into the hands of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps or “other entities” Iran has supported in the past.

But since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted on Iran last weekend, Kerry said, there is no evidence to suggest such transfers have occurred.

“I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists,” he told CNBC television in an interview. “You know, to some degree, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented. But I can tell you this: Right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time.”

Kerry later told a small group of reporters that he understands the Revolutionary Guards are “already complaining that they are not getting the money.”

And he said there will be consequences if Iran is caught using the money to support terrorism.

In occasionally mocking tones, a group of Republican senators in Washington chided Kerry, telling reporters it was always clear to them Iran would use its unfrozen assets to finance terrorism.

Led by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., the senators also said they plan to introduce legislation to impose tougher sanctions against Iran for conducting ballistic missile tests in violation of a U.N. resolution. They called the punishments proposed by the Obama administration for the testing “tepid and weak.”

“Talk about stating the obvious. I mean, c’mon,” Ayotte said of Kerry’s remarks. “It’s something we’ve all known from the beginning. (Iran) was supporting terrorism when their economy was crippled. They were choosing to put their money into guns, not butter, for their citizens before they had this economic relief.

“To have them actually now say, ‘Well, we think some of this might go to terrorism.’ Duh. I mean, really? It’s been so obvious all along.”