Report: Iran could get almost $5 billion dollars to fund terrorism with nuclear deal

According to a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based think-tank American Action Forum (AAF), Iran could get almost $5 billion dollars to use in support of terrorism as a result of the nuclear deal with the Obama administration.

According to the report:

1. The Iran deal will provide the Islamic Republic with an estimated $140 billion in sanctions relief and unfrozen assets.

2. Iran currently spends 3.4 percent of its total budget on defense.

3. Iran spends 65 percent of its defense budget on the IRGC, its elite paramilitary force that actively supports terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East.

4. If current budget trends persist, the Iran deal would mean at least $4.8 billion in additional Iranian defense spending and a 50 percent budget increase for the IRGC.

"According to initial reports from U.S. officials, Iran would have access to $100 billion of frozen assets. The Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence cited this same figure in congressional testimony earlier this year. Secretary of State John Kerry later walked this number back to around $50 billion, reasoning that half of Iran’s frozen assets were already obligated to various projects. While Iran may have already decided how to allocate some of the windfall, it does not reduce the amount they will receive from sanctions relief.

"President Obama himself has used a much larger figure, however, citing Iran’s $150 billion in offshore assets in a recent interview. The Israeli Ambassador to the United States has also publicly stated that the deal would give Iran $150 billion.

"The ultimate unfrozen assets figure is likely to be somewhere between $100 and $150 billion. A reasonable estimate from Foreign Policy is that Iran will receive an initial influx of $120 billion in unfrozen foreign assets and $20 billion in additional annual oil revenues – totaling $140 billion in the first year," the AAF states in the report.