Blumenthal calls for Iran sanctions
Proposes bipartisan legislation in effort to weaken Hamas
As war rages in the Middle East, a Connecticut senator called Monday for tougher sanctions on Iran for its support of the Hamas terrorist group.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal is offering bipartisan legislation this week with U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, to clamp down on Iran for providing funding for Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, prompting an ongoing war. Without Iran’s support, Hamas could not operate and would have run out of supplies long ago, Blumenthal said.
“They are equipped, supplied, trained by Iran,” Blumenthal told reporters Monday. “They are fueled by the financial wherewithal that comes from Iran’s sales of oil. The United States has said it is imposing sanctions to prevent Iran from selling that oil. But all too often, these sanctions have been unenforced. The result has been a deluge of dollars going to Iran’s proxies. That’s the stark, undisputed truth. … Hamas would not exist without Iran.”
Behind the scenes, Iran is the biggest player with the most money that has helped Hamas purchase weapons and build the underground network of tunnels in Gaza that authorities say stretch for an estimated 300 miles.
“Hamas received a green light from Iran to do that attack, and Hezbollah may receive a green light to attack from the north. I hope not,” Blumenthal said at the state Capitol complex in Hartford. “Behind all these proxies is Iran, a devastating, malign influence in the Middle East whose resources come from the sales of oil.”
Officials do not know for sure how many weapons have been stockpiled in the tunnels and other places.
“That’s a very important question,” Blumenthal said. “We believe they have substantial amounts of weapons, munitions stockpiled in the underground city, the tunnels, and store rooms that they have right now in Gaza City and elsewhere.”
Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said publicly that “we don’t have direct evidence that Iran was involved in the attack, either in planning it or
carrying it out.”
Separately, $6 billion in funds owed to Iran by South Korea remain frozen for oil that Iran sold years ago. Legislation has been offered in Congress to freeze the assets permanently. The United States had placed sanctions on various deals and says the money can be used only for humanitarian needs like food and medicine.
In a press conference Monday that was televised live on CNN and other outlets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged again that Israel would win the battle that started three weeks ago.
“Israel did not start this war. Israel did not want this war,” Netanyahu said. “But Israel will win this war.”
Regarding terrorists, Netanyahu said, “They are a part of the axis of evil that Iran has formed – an axis of terror that works by arming, training and financing Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and other terror proxies through the Middle East and beyond the Middle East.”
Hamas is currently using the basements of hospitals in Gaza as part of the extensive tunnel network, Netanyahu said. Of more than 200 hostages that are being held by Hames, 33 are children, he said.
The Associated Press reports that 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. More than 8,300
Palestinians are dead in the ensuing Israel-hamas war, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, as Israel expanded its military assault both on the ground and through airstrikes.
Netanyahu sharply rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying that the United States would have never agreed to a ceasefire after the attacks on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 and the terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan and other locations on Sept. 11, 2001.
“The Bible says there is a time for peace and a time for war,” Netanyahu said. “This is a time for war.”
Blumenthal recently returned from a trip to Israel to see Netanyahu and others as part of a group of 10 U.S. senators — five Republicans and five Democrats.
During a press conference last week in Israel, senators spoke strongly about Iran.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, was among the most outspoken, saying that “destroying Hamas is non-negotiable” in a confrontation that could potentially spread beyond the narrow Gaza Strip.
“What is winning?” Graham asked at the news conference in Tel Aviv. “For the terrorist organization to be destroyed, for the people of Israel to have the sense of peace they’ve lost, for the Palestinian people to have hope they don’t have, and for the Arabs and Israelis to end a conflict that would make the world better.”
Noting that 10% of the U.S. Senate had gathered in Tel Aviv, Graham said, “We’re here today to tell Iran, we’re watching you. If this war grows, it’s coming to your backyard. There won’t be two fronts, there will be three.”
Graham added, “If these innocent hostages get slaughtered, I hold you, Iran, accountable because you could stop it if you chose to. The idea this happened without Iranian involvement is laughable. For Iran to fail, the Middle East needs to come together, marching toward the light, and away from the darkness.”