Major powers clinched a historic deal aimed at ensuring Iran does not obtain the nuclear bomb, opening up Tehran’s stricken economy and potentially ending decades of bad blood with the West.
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Seemingly violating the claim that America doesn’t negotiate with terrorists and hostage takers, reports have revealed that the Obama administration organized an airlift to transport $400 million in cash to Tehran which coincided with the January release of four Americans taken prisoner by Iran..
The money was the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration reached with Iran earlier to resolve a dispute about the non-delivery of US arms purchased by Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad RezaPahlavi.
“As we’ve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim at the Hague Tribunal were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
The agreement, which came into force in January, saw Iran accept curbs to its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of sanctions by world powers.
As for why it was a cash payment, a United States official with knowledge of the transaction told the Journal, “Sometimes the Iranians want cash because it’s so hard for them to access things in the worldwide financial system”. “Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side”.
He admitted, however, that Iran had been able to export much more oil after sanctions limiting exports were lifted and had regained access to the worldwide banking system.
He said US congress, Israel and other regional countries are thwarting the implementation of the deal.
The WS-J quotes U.S. and European officials as well as congressional staffers who were later briefed on the operation.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the money should be given to victims of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks.
He said that “if the other party had acted properly we would be in a better [economic] situation today”.
Iran has repeatedly complained that it has fulfilled its end of the deal while all the agreed-upon sanctions have not yet been lifted.
The White House claims the money represented the first installment of the $1.7 billion in the United States seized in 1979 after an arms deal with the Shah of Iran was halted following the Islamic revolution. “However, after six months, no tangible changes have occurred”.
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Tehran is still struggling to attract large-scale foreign investment.
