As the Biden administration signs off on a $6 billion ransom and names five Iranians to be released in a prisoner swap, some members of Congress suspect Washington is cooking up an even larger deal with the Islamic Republic in violation of the law.   

On the fateful date of September 11, Washington released the names of five lawbreakers to be sent back to Iran in exchange for five Americans who until recently were wrongfully detained at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and now are under house arrest at Tehran.

In addition, Secretary Blinken signed a waiver on Monday authorizing a South Korean bank to transfer to Qatar and from there to Tehran $6 billion of Iranian oil proceeds that have been frozen due to American sanctions.  

Once the money changes hands, the Iranians imprisoned in America are to be released, and the five Americans will be let go from house arrest, and the deal could be completed in proximity to another infamous anniversary: September 16, the date in 2022 that Mahsa Amini was killed over an allegedly improperly worn hijab, which was followed by nationwide protests against the clerical regime.

Meanwhile, President Raisi of Iran will travel to New York for the annual United Nations gabfest, as well as a bonus interview with the Council on Foreign Relations. Coupled with the financially lucrative hostage swap, any marking of the Amini killing could be overshadowed. 

“It’s particularly egregious that this is taking place on the same week as the anniversaries of 9-11 — as Iran is actively harboring the leader of Al Qaeda — and Mahsa Amini’s murder by Iran’s so-called ‘morality police,’” the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Mike McCaul, said in a statement.

“The administration is demonstrating weakness that only further endangers Americans and freedom-loving people around the world,” Mr. McCaul added. In addition, some suspect the hostage swap is merely a “side deal” to a larger scheme. 

“President Biden has established a secret nuclear deal with the Iranian regime that is being kept from Congress and the American people,” Senator Cruz of Texas said in a statement Monday. “Today’s news confirms there has already been a side deal including a $6 billion ransom and the release of Iranian operatives.”

Beyond the $6 billion ransom, $10 billion frozen in world banks may be released as well, in addition to Tehran benefiting from hundreds of billions of dollars in unenforced oil sanctions, Mr. Cruz says. At the same time, he adds, Mr. Biden “has allowed the Iranian regime to all but acquire a virtual nuclear arsenal over the last two and a half years.”

With such a deal, the administration would likely violate the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, according to which new agreements with Tehran must be reviewed and authorized by Congress. “The Biden administration must keep their deal secret because if they disclosed it, the law requires them to come to Congress and defend it, and this appeasement is utterly indefensible,” Mr. Cruz says. 

On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief, Rafael Grossi, warned against a global “decrease in interest” in Iran’s nuclear advances. “The Biden administration must seek a finding of non-compliance and refer Iran’s nuclear violations to the UN Security Council,” Mr. McCaul said in response. “We cannot let Iran’s continued nuclear escalation go unpunished.”

Yet, among those America plans to release in the swap are “Iranians who tried to procure parts for nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and Iran’s terror apparatus,” a former Iran policy official at the Department of  State, Gabriel Noronha, wrote on X.  

An Iranian military veteran, Amin Hasanzadeh, has secretly sent sensitive supercomputer data to his brother, who works on Iran’s cruise missile program. Another man, Mehrdad Ansari, was sentenced to five years in prison for trying to obtain $2.6 million worth of items that could be used in nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

A third Iranian, Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, tried to send to Iran mass spectrometry equipment, used in nuclear programs for nuclear enrichment and testing. A fourth, Kambiz Attar Kashani, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hezbollah, and Hamas.  

Meanwhile, the five Americans hostages who are part of the deal are wrongfully held, according to the state department. A sixth American, Shahab Dalili, has been at Evin for seven years, but is not included in the swap. The state department claims it cannot determine that he is “wrongfully” detained. Also left behind is Jamshid Sharmahd, as Washington claims Germany is negotiating his release. 

The European Union, meanwhile, is accusing Iran of “hostage diplomacy,” following Tehran’s disclosure that a Swedish EU diplomat, Johan Floderus, who had already spent more than a year and a half in prison, is now accused of spying. 

Iran is a top terrorist state. It has been successful at crushing the Mahsa Amini protest, and as it becomes a threshold nuclear state, President Biden is turning a blind eye and showering Tehran with funds. No wonder the mullahs value their hostage diplomacy.