The Obama administration is refusing to supply Congress with death tolls of the number of Americans and Israelis killed by the Iranian military and terrorist proxies, according to a report from The Washington Free Beacon.
According to the report, Sen. Marco Rubio sent private letters to Secretary of State John Kerry on behalf of Congress. Rubio repeatedly asked for figures from Kerry detailing American and Israeli deaths from the 1979 revolution to present day.
A series of letters, obtained exclusively by The Free Beacon, allegedly shows Kerry refusing to comply with Rubio’s requests.
In an initial letter to Kerry, Rubio asked: “How many U.S. citizens have been killed by Iran, including by Iran’s terrorist proxies, since 1979?”
The secretary of state dodged the question a first time.
“The death of any U.S. citizen due to acts of terrorism is a tragedy that we take very seriously,” Kerry wrote to Rubio.
Rubio followed up by asking Kerry to specify “how many U.S. troops and soldiers were killed by Iranian-provided weapons or by Iranian-baked militias in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Again, Kerry avoided the question.
“We are extraordinarily grateful for the service of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, and we mourn the loss of every service member,” Kerry wrote a second time.
Rubio, for a third time, pressed Kerry. Rubio wrote again: “How many Israelis have been killed by Iran, including by Iran’s terrorist proxies, since 1979?”
Kerry, once again, refused to answer.
“The central goal of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] is to eliminate the imminent threat that Iran will acquire a nuclear weapon,” Kerry said.
A State Department official has said no further response to Rubio’s questions can be provided.
Recent estimates put the death toll of American soldiers killed by Iran at around 500.
The exchange between Rubio and Kerry comes right in the midst of the controversial Iran nuclear deal. The deal will effectively unfreeze over $100 billion in Iranian assets opening up a stream of funds that could potentially be wired to proxy terrorist groups.
A separate report shows that Iran has already been spending billions of dollars to fund terrorist organizations. The report was commissioned by the Obama administration after Sen. Mark Kirk requested estimates of Iranian military spending. According to the report, an estimated $20 million is funded annually to Hamas terrorists.
In Kerry’s letters to Rubio, Kerry states Iran is allowed to test fire missiles under the Iran nuclear deal.
“It would not be a violation of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] if Iran tested a conventional ballistic missile,” Kerry wrote, according to the Free Beacon.
Public correspondence between Rubio and Kerry can be found on Rubio’s Senate page.