Lawmakers demand administration respond to Iranian influence in Gaza protests
A group of 22 House members said the administration should take criminal, civil and sanctions action against protesters who received funding from the Iranian government
A bipartisan group of 22 House members on Thursday demanded further action from the administration in response to a recent intelligence report that the Iranian government had covertly provided funding to some protests in the U.S. related to the war in Gaza.
The lawmakers, all but one of them Republicans, said that the funding constitutes a potential violation of U.S. law, and called on the administration to pursue monetary and criminal penalties for anyone involved in those transactions, as well as sanction those involved in providing the funding. The administration has not indicated any plans to act further on the intelligence report.
“Given that the aforementioned funding almost certainly violates the U.S. anti-terrorism statutes … we call on you to aggressively prosecute any violations by U.S. individuals and entities of these laws, to impose civil penalties on any violators, and to sanction those entities which provided this funding or facilitated these transactions,” they said.
The lawmakers also called on the administration to provide as much information as possible about the groups, which the letter describes as “pro-Hamas organizations,” that received funding from Iran.
“If U.S. organizations are receiving funding from [state sponsors of terrorism], the United States government has a duty to inform the public and to warn all protestors involved with these groups that they are acting at the behest of a terrorist state,” the lawmakers added. “The American public should not be left in the dark, and it is critical that neither [the Office of the Director of National Intelligence] nor Treasury withhold information that would reveal the depth of this Iranian influence operation.”
The lawmakers asked the administration to provide further information to Congress about those who have received Iranian funding, whether they’ve been notified and how they’ve responded, the total amount and duration of funding provided, whether the groups were aware they were receiving Iranian funding, whether the administration views the receipt of this funding to be a violation of the law and what steps the administration is taking to prevent future payments.
The letter was signed by Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Robert Wittman (R-VA), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), John Moolenaar (R-MI), Jen Kiggans (R-VA), Pat Fallon (R-TX), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Trent Kelly (R-MS), Don Bacon (R-NE), Michael Rulli (R-OH), Burgess Owens (R-UT), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Cory Mills (R-FL), Mark Alford (R-TX), Erin Houchin (R-IN), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Brad Finstad (R-MN), Sam Graves (R-MO), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) and Brandon Williams (R-NY).
Moskowitz was the only Democratic lawmaker who signed the letter.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), similarly requested further information about the Iranian funding last week.