The Biden administration was boasting about a “quieter” Middle East that requires far less attention than previous administrations just days before Palestinian forces attacked Israel.
Eight days before the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed how well the Biden administration’s foreign policy had worked in the Middle East. The region is “quieter today than it has been in two decades,” Sullivan declared, according to Townhall.
“What we said is we want to depressurize, de-escalate, and ultimately integrate the Middle East region. The war in Yemen is in its 19 months of truce. For now, the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped. Our presence in Iraq is stable,” Sullivan remarked.
Sullivan explained that “challenges remain” in the region.
“Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. But the amount of time I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today, compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11, is significantly reduced,” he continued.
A month prior to the Hamas attack, President Biden agreed to release nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets as part of a deal to set free five Americans who had been detained in Iran for years.
The move was mocked by President Trump, who said that money would be used to fund terrorism and that Biden’s moves are worsening diplomatic relations across the globe.
“Can you believe that Crooked Joe Biden is giving $6 Billion to the terrorist regime in Iran? That money be used for terrorism all over the Middle East and, indeed, the World. This incompetent FOOL is absolutely destroying America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“He had the audacity to announce this terrible deal today, September 11. To pay for hostages will lead to kidnapping, ransom, and blackmail against Americans across the globe. I freed many dozens of our people from various unfriendly countries and never paid a dime!” Trump added.
Hamas revealed that it had indeed received support from Iran for its attacks.
“Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas spokesman, also confirmed to the BBC that Iran provided direct backing.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!