110 US House bipartisan members urge President Biden to hold Iran accountable for financing Hamas and Hezbollah

Some 110 bipartisan U.S. House members are urging the White House to place financial pressure on the Iranian regime following the unprecedented Hamas massacre of 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The ayatollah regime in Tehran is providing significant economic and military assistance to its terror proxy Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In a letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden, 63 Democrats and 50 Republican lawmakers demanded the ayatollah regime be held accountable for financing its terror proxies Hamas and Hezbollah.

“Iran must be held fully accountable for its continued role in funding Hamas and Islamic terror,” the lawmakers wrote. The bipartisan group stressed that it will support “every tool available to defeat radical terror.”

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Don Bacon (R-Neb), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) led the large bipartisan initiative to put financial pressure on the Iranian regime. In practice, the lawmakers are urging the White House to impose strict sanctions against Tehran and cut off its oil trade with China and other powers. In addition, the U.S. lawmakers also want Washington to pressure other nations that support financially, including Turkey and Qatar.

The Senate’s latest robust bipartisan pro-Israel stance comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer visited Israel earlier this week to convey bipartisan solidarity with the embattled Jewish state.

Schumer, who is Jewish and lost 35 family members during the Holocaust, stressed that he had an obligation to visit Israel during this difficult time.

“I had an obligation to be here,” Schumer told Israeli leaders during his visit to the Jewish state. “You are not alone,” he added.

Schumer stressed that he was still traumatized by the unprecedented massacre of Israeli Jews by Hamas, the most lethal attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

“There are no words for the horror that happened last Saturday (Oct. 7). It shook me to my core, I think about it all the time,” Schumer said.

Following his return to the United States, Schumer said Washington would quickly increase its military aid to the Jewish state.

“This package must move quickly, a package of military aid, the necessities that Israel needs,” Schumer told Senate lawmakers on Monday. “We talked to the leadership of Israel about what they need, and it will be in this package,” he added.

Prior to the Hamas terror attack on Israel, Washington tried to bridge its differences with Tehran through diplomacy and financial incentives.

In September, the Biden administration decided to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets as a part of a controversial prisoner exchange deal where Iran released five kidnapped U.S. citizens in exchange for the White House releasing five Iranian nations imprisoned in the U.S.

Critics of the deal have argued that the Iranian regime would most likely use the unfrozen assets to step up its funding of terror infrastructure and manpower across the Middle East and beyond.