According to Ernest, in January 2016 the amount in various currencies transported from the USA on the plane due to the fact that a country have no banking connections with Iran.
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The administration claims the money was part of an initial payment of the $1.7 billion set to be given to Iran over an arms deal from the 1970s.
Several Republicans have criticized President Barack Obama’s administration after the discovery of a secret $400 million payment to Iran around the time of the release of four USA prisoners.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for starting the talks in Iran, though she was no longer serving as secretary of state when the deal was completed.
This agreement settled claims before The Hague tribunal and coincided with the implementation of the nuclear agreement between the US and Iran.
The White House has dismissed claims that the USA paid a ransom to Iran in exchange for the release of five American prisoners.
According to American and European officials, the money (Euros and Swiss francs) was piled in wooden compartments and was flown into Tehran inside and unmarked plane.
The White House and State Department are pushing back.
The Americans who were released included Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, Idaho pastor Saeed Abedini, and former Marine Corps Sergeant Amir Hekmati.
Kirby went on to say the US did not hide this from anyone, stating the President spoke about it in January, and this was definitely “not ransom”.
House Speaker Paul Ryan was more measured, saying that: “If true, this report confirms our longstanding suspicion that the administration paid a ransom in exchange for Americans unjustly detained in Iran”.
“As we’ve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim …were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home”, State Department spokesperson John Kirby told the Journal.
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“I don’t know for certain yet if this was a hostage-for-cash deal, but when American tax dollars are used to fund the Iranian military, the American people deserve the truth”. Iran has also provided lethal assistance to terrorist groups in Iraq, and has been definitively linked to hundreds of USA troop deaths in Iraq. At the same time, the official said, 400 mln Dollars in no case should be taken as a ransom.
