Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has urged President Trump to reverse a reported plan to block an Iranian request to the IMF for $5 billion in aid to fight the coronavirus crisis — saying it is in the U.S. national interest to accede to the request.
“I am disappointed to see reports that your administration intends to block Iran from receiving $5 billion in humanitarian aid from the IMF to combat the coronavirus pandemic,” Feinstein wrote in a letter dated Thursday to President Trump. “Providing these funds to Iran would help it respond more effectively to the disease and mitigate the risk of further destabilization in the region.”
The coronavirus has hit Iran hard, with the potential for even greater spread in the region. In the interest of international security, President Trump should support Iran’s request to the IMF for emergency funds to contain this virus. pic.twitter.com/yWD3kD9Qem
— Senator Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) April 9, 2020
The administration plans to block the request for an emergency loan, amid concerns that the anti-American regime still has billion-dollar accounts available to it, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Senior officials told the Journal that the loan would allow Tehran to divert the money to its economy — which has been stunted by the sanctions imposed as part of the U.S. maximum pressure campaign — or to finance extremist militant groups in the Middle East.
Iranian “officials have a long history of diverting funds allocated for humanitarian goods into their own pockets and to their terrorist proxies,” one of the administration officials told the outlet. – READ MORE
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