MAGA-aligned U.S. Representative Scott Perry (R-PA), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, defended the Trump administration’s proposal to lift sanctions on Iranian oil while the U.S. continues to strike Iran.
When asked on CNN why the U.S. would lift sanctions on a country that we’re at war with, Perry replied, “Once that oil arrives to its destination is, do you think Iran is getting the check? Do you think they’re going to be able to get the money?”
When CNN host Kaitlan Collins answered, “Yes, they are getting the money,” Perry cast doubt and asked, “How are they getting the money? Is it being wired by China and India? To what bank?” He added, “And if there is a bank in Iran, in about 15 minutes, it can be gone.” He added, “They don’t even have an Internet in Iran right now.”
(Perry’s assertion that the Iranian regime is so damaged that it can’t perform basic functions like receiving funds appears to contradict U.S. intelligence assessments saying the regime “likely will remain in place for now, weakened but more hard-line, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces exerting greater control” according the Washington Post.)
Collins: Why would you ease sanctions on a country we are at war with?
Perry: Do you think they’re going to be able to get the money?
Collins: Yes. They are getting the money
Perry: How are they getting the money? Is it being wired by China and India?
Collins: Yes
Perry: To… pic.twitter.com/9TjF3KbRze
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 20, 2026
[NOTE: The Iranian regime has blocked internet access to its civilian population but as seen below, on Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with Face the Nation‘s Margaret Brennan via a Zoom call, which requires the internet.]
When asked why the Iranian people don’t have open internet access but Araghchi does, the foreign minister answered: “Because I’m the voice of Iranians, and I have to defend their right. …Internet is closed because of the security reasons, because we are under attack.”
The New York Times today reported that Yousef Pezeskian, the son of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, is keeping an online journal (via a Telegram channel) on which he reported that he has “not seen or spoken to his father since Israel and the United States began the war against Iran on Feb. 28 and the country’s leadership went underground.”
Iran has continued to export its own oil since the war began, with its largest customer — China — largely unaffected by U.S. sanctions. In a twist that began manifesting even before the new relaxation of sanctions, the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran revealed what the New York Times described as “an economic paradox,” noting that since the war “caused global oil prices to surge, Iran has actually been profiting from it.”