南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特(Tim Scott)周二与其他22名共和党人和一名独立议员一起提出了一项法案，永久冻结已释放的60亿美元伊朗石油收入作为释放五名美国囚犯交易的一部分.
这笔钱已经受到了保守派的强烈批评受到白宫官员的口头辩护本月早些时候，巴勒斯坦激进组织哈马斯对以色列南部发动了恐怖袭击。
伊朗是哈马斯的主要赞助者，美国公布收入的批评者表示，这将缓解伊朗面临的更广泛的金融压力——尽管美国表示，没有“确凿的证据”表明德黑兰直接参与了哈马斯的袭击，以色列官员表示，以色列有1000多人在袭击中丧生。
斯科特的法案得到了参议院共和党领导层一些人的支持，包括约翰·巴拉索、史蒂夫·戴恩斯和谢莉·摩尔·卡皮托。它还得到了亚利桑那州参议员Kyrsten Sinema的支持，他去年离开了民主党，成为一名无党派人士。
除了冻结伊朗的收入，该法案还将指示财政部长珍妮特·耶伦(Janet Yellen)研究目前被美国制裁冻结的高价值伊朗资产，并向国会报告这一信息。
鉴于华盛顿在两党之间存在分歧，该立法面临着成为法律的不明朗道路。
参议员蒂姆·斯科特(Tim Scott)将于2023年9月12日在国会大厦出席参议院银行、住房和城市事务委员会(Senate Banking，Housing and Urban Affairs Committee)关于“美国证券交易委员会(u . s . Securities and Exchange Commission)的监督”的听证会。
比尔·克拉克/CQ-通过盖蒂图片社点名
在一份声明中，斯科特称解冻60亿美元是“一个严重的错误，它为美国人质创造了一个市场，鼓励了我们的对手，并给哈马斯最大的支持者之一的资产负债表带来了荣誉。”
美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯(Antony Johnson)和其他官员反驳了斯科特的说法，指出一直由韩国持有的石油收入尚未作为释放囚犯协议的一部分使用，仅被指定用于人道主义目的，在转移到卡塔尔后受到严格监督。
“有些人提出这种错误的说法——他们要么是被误导了，要么是在误导。不管怎样，这都是错误的，”布林肯最近在美国广播公司的“本周”节目中说
上周美国和卡塔尔政府同意再次封锁伊朗美国广播公司新闻报道称，他们不会动用任何资金。
然而，斯科特周一在乔治敦大学对一群学生说，白宫的逆转方针还不够。
“我们应该更进一步。我们应该了解伊朗在任何银行系统或金融机构中拥有的每一笔超过500万美元的资产。
斯科特上周在爱荷华州接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，驳斥了“可笑”的想法，即封锁伊朗资产可能会被视为美国背弃协议，并损害未来释放被错误关押在国外的美国人的努力。
“如果我们能把钱拿回来，那将拯救生命，而不是牺牲生命，”他说。
拜登政府也受到了一些民主党人的压力。威斯康星州参议员塔米·鲍德温(Tammy Baldwin)在X上的一篇帖子中写道，“在我完全相信伊朗没有参与这些针对以色列人民的野蛮恐怖袭击之前，美国应该冻结60亿美元的伊朗资产。”
其他民主党参议员也附和了这一点，包括西弗吉尼亚州的乔曼钦、蒙大拿州的乔恩特斯、内华达州的杰基罗森和宾夕法尼亚州的鲍勃凯西，他们都像鲍德温一样，将在2024年竞选连任。
斯科特的法案并不是立法禁止伊朗获取其石油资产的唯一努力。上周，参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔和参议员汤姆·科顿。他们将提出一项提案，禁止美国释放任何资金。
10月9日，田纳西州参议员玛莎·布莱克本(Marsha Blackburn)带领20名共和党参议员致信总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)，敦促他的政府以任何可能的方式支持以色列，并“立即冻结”伊朗银行账户。
斯科特没有在那封信上签名。他的办公室没有回应为什么这样做的问题。
根据538的共和党初选平均水平，这位参议员继续在全国范围内以个位数进行民调，他在以色列遭到袭击后对哈马斯发动的战争的言论上一反常态地咄咄逼人。
他批评了竞争对手，如前总统唐纳德·特朗普、企业家维韦克·拉马斯瓦米和南卡罗来纳州人妮基·黑利对这场冲突的评论。
斯科特还采取强硬立场，不接受来自加沙的难民，这是哈马斯控制的巴勒斯坦领土，现在是大部分战斗的焦点，因为他不能告诉“他们是谁”。
“在我的任期内不会，”他在乔治敦说。
Tim Scott, other Republicans propose bill to block Iranian money after Hamas' Israel attack
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott on Tuesday introduced a bill along with 22 other Republicans and one independent lawmaker to permanently refreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue that was releasedas part of a deal to free five American detainees.
That money has since come under intense conservative criticism anddrawn vocal defenses by White House officialsin the wake of a terror attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel earlier this month.
Iran is a key sponsor of Hamas, and detractors of the U.S. releasing the revenue said that it would ease broader financial pressure on Iran -- even as the U.S. has said there is no "hard, tangible evidence" that Tehran was directly involved in Hamas' attack, which Israeli officials said killed more than 1,000 people in Israel.
Scott's bill is supported by some in Senate GOP leadership including John Barrasso, Steve Daines and Shelley Moore Capito. It's also backed by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent last year.
In addition to blocking the Iranian revenue, the bill would also direct Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to study high-value Iranian assets that are currently blocked by U.S. sanctions and report that information to Congress.
The legislation faces an unclear path to becoming law, given that Washington is divided between the two parties.
In a statement, Scott called the unfreezing of the $6 billion "a grave mistake that created a market for American hostages, emboldened our adversaries, and put a credit on the balance sheets of one of Hamas's biggest backers."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials have pushed back against Scott's argument, noting that the oil revenue, which had been held by South Korea, hasn't yet been spent as part of the prisoner release deal, is designated solely for humanitarian purposes and is subject to strict supervision after being transferred to Qatar.
"Some who are advancing this false narrative -- they're either misinformed or they're misinforming. And either way, it's wrong," Blinken said recently on ABC's "This Week."
Last week the U.S. and Qatari governmentsagreed to again block Iranfrom accessing any of the money, ABC News reported.
Scott, however, told a group of students at Georgetown University on Monday that the White House reversing course wasn't enough.
"We should go a step further. We should be aware of every asset over $5 million in any banking system or financial institution that we can get our hands close to that Iran has," he said.
Speaking with ABC News last week in Iowa, Scott dismissed the "laughable" idea that blocking the Iranian assets could be seen as the U.S. reneging on a deal and hurt future efforts to free wrongfully held Americans abroad.
"If we can get the money back, that will save lives, not cost lives," he said.
The Biden administration has been under pressure from some Democrats as well. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin wrote in a post on X, "Until I have full confidence that Iran did not play a role in these barbaric terrorist attacks on the Israeli people, the United States should freeze the $6bn dollars in Iranian assets."
Other Democratic senators have echoed that, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, all of whom, like Baldwin, are up for reelection in 2024.
Scott's bill is not the only effort to legislatively bar Iran from accessing its oil assets. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said they would introduce a proposal to prohibit the U.S. from releasing any of the funds.
On Oct. 9, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee led 20 of her fellow Republican senators in a letter to President Joe Biden urging his administration to support Israel in any way possible and "immediately freeze" Iranian bank accounts.
Scott did not sign that letter. His office did not respond to questions about why.
The senator, who continues to poll in the single digits nationally, according to 538's GOP primary average, has been uncharacteristically aggressive in his rhetoric on the war Israel launched against Hamas after being attacked.
He has criticized rivals like former President Donald Trump, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley for their own comments about the conflict.
Scott has also taken a hard-line on not accepting refugees from Gaza, the Palestinian territory Hamas controls which is now the focus of much of the fighting, because he can't tell "who they are."
"Not on my watch," he said at Georgetown.
