Clinton condemns Iran’s cash offer for Palestinian terrorists
Democratic candidate calls promise of funds for killers an example of Iran’s ‘nefarious activities,’ urges sanctions for support of terrorism 
Eric Cortellessa - Times of Israel
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by her daughter Chelsea Clinton, speaks at the African American Festival, I'll Make Me a World Celebration Day at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton condemned Iran’s announcement that it will pay thousands of dollars to the families of Palestinian terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis.
“This is yet another example of Iran’s nefarious activities across the region and why the United States must continue to impose sanctions on Iran for its support for terrorism while vigorously enforcing the nuclear agreement to ensure it is unable to obtain a nuclear weapon,” the former secretary of state said Friday.

On Wednesday, Tehran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fateh Ali, said at a press conference attended by Hamas officials that the Islamic Republic will give $7,000 to families of “martyrs of the intifada in occupied Jerusalem,” as well as “$30,000 to every family whose home the occupation has demolished for the participation of one of its sons.”

Ali’s announcement came as a wave of Palestinian terror attacks have continued unabated since October, in what some are calling the “stabbing intifada.”

The aftermath of a stabbing attack at a supermarket in the Sha’ar Binymain industrial park, north of Jerusalem, on February 18, 2016. The knife used can be seen in the bottom-left corner. (Israel Police)

Twenty-nine Israelis and three non-Israelis have been killed in these attacks, during which over 170 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.

Since the Iran nuclear accord was forged in July 2015, Iran has increased its financial support of Hamas, along with the Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah. Implementation of the deal — formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — began in January and lifted a spate of crippling oil and financial sanctions on Iran, releasing more than $100 billion in frozen assets.

Clinton supported the JCPOA. If elected, she vowed to strictly enforce the deal and curb Iran’s regional ambitions. She has articulated her strategy for enforcing the deal and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear arsenal as one of “distrust and verify.”

She has also vowed to deepen the US commitment to Israel’s security, and on Friday said the US needs to “stand with our true friend and ally Israel against Iranian aggression.”