1776Reporting
The Obama administration deliberately shut down an FBI investigation into Iranian terrorists, newly released emails reveal. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry personally intervened, blocking arrests to secure a nuclear deal with Tehran.
Recently declassified FBI communications from 2015 and 2016 expose how the Justice and State Departments under President Barack Obama prevented federal agents from enforcing U.S. sanctions on Iran. The whistleblower disclosures claim officials established a “shadow amnesty program,” protecting numerous Iranian criminals from prosecution.
This secretive effort led to the abandonment of dozens of Iran-related investigations by the FBI and federal prosecutors. “After recognizing the State Department and DOJ obstruction would thwart effective enforcement efforts,” officials dropped the cases, whistleblowers stated.
One of the disclosures claims, “Secretary of State [Kerry] personally told DOJ officials that they were to stand down on an arrest.” This contradicts Kerry’s sworn congressional testimony in July 2015, where he asserted that Iran was being “restrained” in its missile development programs.
During this period, Kerry’s State Department was negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), widely known as the Iran nuclear deal. This agreement lifted economic sanctions, included a prisoner swap, and coincided with a $1.7 billion cash payout to Tehran. Additionally, 14 individuals involved in Iran’s Weapons of Mass Destruction and ballistic missile programs were released.
“Kerry and the State Department sold out the safety of Americans and our allies when they provided $1.7 billion in cash to Iran, which, unsurprisingly, Iran used to continue development of their weapons programs and to better equip and fund their proxies,” whistleblowers stated.
They further warned that “the death and destruction seen on October 7, 2023, [in Israel] is only one of the tragic results from providing this cash to Iran and from the State Department, DOJ leadership, and FBI Director Comey systematically obstructing Iranian investigations and prosecutions for years.”
The revelations prompted Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to release the whistleblower disclosures. Following a long investigation, Grassley declared that his findings provided “chilling evidence the Obama-Biden administration jeopardized our national security and demoralized the morale of FBI agents who were working to keep Americans safe.”
He added that re-electing President Trump would “restore American strength on the world stage and hold Iran accountable for its evil acts.”
The FBI’s internal concerns over the obstruction were so severe that officials took their grievances to then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. But Lynch also refused to act, whistleblowers claim.
In a July 3, 2015, email—just days before the JCPOA was signed—FBI official Louis Bladel voiced frustration: “We are all beside ourselves on asking the field to stand down on a layup arrest, however as it stands right now we all have to sit back and wait until all the US and Iran negotiations resolve themselves.”
The obstruction reportedly continued even after the deal was in place. State Department official Samantha Boyer criticized the administration for stalling enforcement operations, writing in a March 1, 2016, email: “[I]t’s a little like WTF that [an arrest is] being held up (if you’ll excuse the phrasing). However it is what it is.”
Other officials, such as FBI agent Stacey Moye, discussed gathering evidence of the administration’s interference. “Should there ever be a special investigation/hearing etc. on why FBI could not action law, and potentially prevent [a] national security incident,” Moye wrote in a Dec. 17, 2015, email.
That message was addressed to DOJ lawyer Jay Bratt, who was then chief of the counterintelligence and export control section in the National Security Division. Bratt, notably, resigned in January after working on the cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.
Representatives for Obama did not respond to media inquiries. Kerry was also unavailable for comment.
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