Obama State Department Blocked FBI From Arresting Iranian Suspects: Report

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson revealed shocking evidence Wednesday that former Secretary of State John Kerry’s State Department under president Barack Obama blocked the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ (FBI) efforts to arrest Iranian suspects.

Whistleblowers reportedly informed the senators and provided unclassified documents supporting their claims.

Fox News reported that the two Republicans said the State Department “actively interfered” with the FBI’s efforts to arrest individuals suspected of being in the United States illegally to aid Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program.

They indicated that the Justice Department and FBI “failed to take the necessary steps to stop Kerry’s obstructive efforts against law enforcement.”

The senators asserted that the State Department’s interference stemmed from ongoing negotiations related to the then-Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal, signed by the former president in 2015.

Grassley and Johnson are now requesting archived emails from former Secretary of State John Kerry, CIA Director Bill Burns, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman by June 4.

The senators also claimed these actions occurred while the administration publicly opposed Iran’s nuclear ambitions by imposing sanctions on “Iranian individuals, companies, and organizations for involvement in nuclear proliferation, ballistic missile development, support for terrorist groups, and human rights abuses.”

Grassley and Johnson wrote letters to the State and Justice Departments in addition to the FBI, stating, “The records provided to our offices show that the Obama/Biden administration’s State Department, under the leadership of John Kerry, actively and persistently interfered with FBI operations pertaining to lawful arrests of known terrorists, members of Iranian proliferation networks, and other criminals providing material support for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

“The records also show that DOJ and FBI leadership apparently allowed it to happen until the Trump administration altered course,” they added.

Just The News highlighted that the letters detailed eight instances where the DOJ or FBI could have proceeded with arrests of suspected Iranian supporters but chose not to. 

One suspect appeared on the “terrorism watch list,” and another returned to Iran.

Two suspects were finally arrested after former President Donald Trump’s State Department lifted the block.

Grassley wrote, “These warnings about the failure to arrest known Iranians subject to arrest warrants occurred as early as 2015 and was allegedly done due to political reasons.”

Fox highlighted that a July 2015 email they obtained showed that “concerns were raised about stand down orders to arrest criminal Iranians.” 

Another email from April 2016 read, “State has been blocking FBI actions where State has had a role for approval or concurrence—visas, lure ops primarily. We have prepared a package of several cases blocked by State and have been working it up the FBI/DOJ/State chain over the past 6 months.”

A November 2016 email from Shell corporate to an FBI official, of which ex-FBI official Peter Strzok was copied on, read, “It seems Trump election win having impact on doing business in Iran. We are going to sign a small deal in Iran this week ($5 million licensing agreement.)”

“We were in talks with a Japanese bank to handle the funds, but they have recently backed off, unofficially citing coming Trump presidency. European banks feeling the same way. Small amount of money, but having a dampening effect on doing business in Iran,” it continued.

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