According to the WSJ, members of the Department of Justice had objected to the 400 million cash payment because of concerns it would be seen as quid pro-quo ransom.
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‘We do not pay ransom for hostages.
“This wasn’t some nefarious deal”, he said.
At a Pentagon press conference, President Obama said the money was to settle a dispute over arms contracts dating back to before the 1979 Iranian revolution.
The settlement stemmed from a claim filed by Iran with an global tribunal in 1981 that related to a $400 million payment made by the government of the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran to purchase military equipment in 1970s.
One clear question surfaces: Did the Obama Administration break decades-long federal policy in paying a ransom for the Americans held hostage by Iran?
“The plane I saw on television was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in cash going to Iran”, the real estate mogul tweeted.
Many politics-watchers nevertheless have yet to pick their jaws up off the floor after hearing the salacious details that even Obama admitted Thursday were “out of a spy novel”. There were reports that the U.S. sent over palettes of cash to Iran, specifically in Tehran on the same day United States prisoners were sent home.
Just last week, CIA Director John Brennan claimed the money Iran is getting under Obama’s nuclear deal “is being used to support its currency” and “build up its infrastructure”.
Obama said there have been gains in weakening IS in Iraq and Syria, but he conceded that the extremist group still poses a threat to the United States as it shifts its tactics to carrying out attacks elsewhere around the world.
“We do not pay ransom for hostages”, the president said, sternly denying the accusation.
Speaking Thursday, President Obama said, “we announced these payments in January”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made such a comparison between Iran and the Nazi regime in 2006 when he addressed the annual United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Los Angeles.
The DOJ did not object to the $1.7 billion settlement with Iran. Detractors blame Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration for caving to Iranian demands, while receiving little in return.
“This administration has embarrassed our country as no administration has before, going so far as to fund Islamic terror through cash payments to Iran”, Stephen Miller, senior policy advisor to the Trump Campaign, said on Wednesday.
“We believe this agreement … actually saved the American taxpayers potentially billions of dollars”, Kerry said.
“I would also add that the way this was done looks like an illicit financial transaction”, said Schanzer.
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Earnest has insisted that the mysterious cash transfer was due to the US and Iran not having a formal banking relationship, and was not meant to be secret.
