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GOP pushes Obama administration on Iran payment
Meanwhile, in a reference to the Iran cash controversy, Texas Senator and former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz tweeted, “Americans deserve an explanation of why the Obama Admin is using their money not to fight terrorism, but to fund it”. It deserves more attention, because the administration has failed to make its case.
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The controversial $400 million payment that the US sent to Iran in January, just as four American hostages were released-a planeload of Euros, Swiss Francs and other currencies-was only the first of three American cash deliveries to the country, the Obama administration reportedly told lawmakers on Tuesday.
“Iran may have received as much as $33.6 billion in cash or in gold and other precious metals”, Dubowitz told Congress. The cash, paid in European currency, arrived in Tehran Jan. 17, the same day that the hostages were flown home. But he said it was his understanding that the money is being used to meet “critical economic needs” in Iran. The Obama administration downplayed the significance of that move, but two weeks ago it was locked into Iran’s budget after Khamenei “approved the allocation”, according to translations and analysis from FDD [f].
Not for lack of trying on the part of Congress. “A $1.7 billion cash ransom to Iran”, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said in a statement late Tuesday.
According to the State Department, a $400 million payment delivered to Iran in January was Iranian money from a decades-old account being returned.
But she provided neither a legal analysis of the claim nor a calculation of the interest paid. But the administration has declined to explain the nature and amount of its counterclaim, or why it paid Iran’s claim and left its own counterclaim for future litigation.
“First, President Obama signs a awful nuclear deal with Iran, and months later the American people find out about a $400 million ransom payment to the Iranian government”, Scott said in a statement. “International banking institutions don’t want to deal with Iran, and that’s good news”.
In a January 29 letter, Sen. The $400 million was for airplane parts, which were never delivered, the Journal reports. The administration explained the $400 million was a settlement between the two countries that would effectively keep the matter out of worldwide litigation and save the US billions.
The Treasury spokeswoman argued that the $1.7 billion sum was based on a 37-year-old arbitration claim between the USA and Iran, however, and the larger sum of $1.3 billion was estimated interest on Iranian cash that the US has held since the 1970s. The administration denies accusations this was a ransom payment, but has acknowledged that the money was used as leverage to ensure the prisoners were released.
Republicans have decried the payments as ransom, a claim the Obama administration has rejected.
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Dubowitz said a portion of the money was probably distributed in cash and other assets.