by Jake Smith
Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday that their Middle East policies are “disastrous” a year after the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel and the subsequent war that erupted in the region.
Hamas invaded Israel on October 7 last year, killing approximately 1,200 people, which sparked a wider regional war and drag in other bad actors such as HouthisHezbollah and Iran. Ernst told Biden and Harris that their response to the conflict – which included criticizing Israel’s actions in the conflict, delisting the Houthis from the terrorist organization list and appeasing Iran – had only contributed to the ongoing chaos in the region and gave their policies an “F” grade, according to the letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Three hundred and sixty-five days later, the war started by Iran’s proxies had only expanded, and Israel faced threats from all sides” – Ernst he wrote. “Your administration’s response to the crisis in the Middle East – triggered in part by your accidental withdrawal from Afghanistan – has been nothing short of disastrous, costing American lives, demoralizing our allies and emboldening our adversaries.”
Ernst explained that the Biden-Harris administration’s 2022 promise to “support and strengthen partnerships” with allied countries in the Middle East has not been kept, arguing that the administration has “withheld critical munitions that Israel needs to defeat Iran and its proxies and free our American hostages.”
Ongoing negotiations to release the remaining hostages are “failing”, Ernst further.
“Your administration has also halted arms sales to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, undermining our partners’ ability to defend against escalating threats from Iran,” Ernst wrote. “All this, coupled with your administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, for which Vice President Kamala Harris recently reaffirmed her full support, has shaken the faith of our Middle Eastern allies to the core.”
Ernst also noted the Biden-Harris administration’s decision void including the Houthis on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) in 2021. These were relisted in January to a separate terrorism watchlist, but not to FTO.
The Biden-Harris administration’s decision to lift Trump-era sanctions on Iran and ease oil bans only emboldened and enriched Tehran, further escalating regional tensions, Ernst wrote. Iran has done hundreds billions dollars in oil revenues from the Biden-Harris administration’s sanctions relief and billions more from sanctions relief.
Tehran regularly uses the money it earns to finance various terrorist groups throughout the Middle East.
“You also allowed Iranian proxies to carry out over 176 attacks on U.S. troops in the region, with no recourse,” Ernst wrote to Biden and Harris. “In June, President Biden declared that he is the “only president this century” whose soldiers “are not killed anywhere in the world.” Vice President Harris stated that “no member of the United States military is on active duty in a war zone, in any war zone anywhere in the world, for the first time this century.”
“Through such blatant lies, your administration ignores the thousands of our brave servicemen and women currently deployed to the Middle East while remembering the deaths of 13 servicemen as they withdraw from Afghanistan,” Ernst wrote. “You also conveniently forgot the Iran-backed attack on Tower 22 (in Jordan) earlier this year that killed three U.S. soldiers and injured 40 others.”
The Biden-Harris administration also failed to improve on the historic achievement of the Trump administration Abraham Accordswhich was a peace agreement signed between Israel and a number of other Arab states in 2020, Ernst wrote. Instead, the administration focused on returning to the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which Trump did he withdrew in 2018, citing concerns that it would fail to stop Iran’s nuclear program while allowing Tehran to benefit from lifted sanctions.
“Mr. President and Madam Vice President! You have failed to achieve any of the five goals you have set for the Middle East. If this were a graded test, you would get an A,” Ernst wrote to Biden and Harris. “Despite the fantastic claims by your Secretary of State last week, your administration’s strategy has left the United States in a significantly weaker geopolitical position today than it was four years ago.”
The administration continues (*7*)maintain is working to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and diplomatic meetings to reduce tensions in the region. However, US officials remain private concession that Biden is unlikely to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas before the end of his term, which is in theory could prepare the ground for regional de-escalation.
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Jake Smith is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Sen. Joni Ernst” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
