Iran asked the U.S.to pressure them into leaving, but the American negotiators refused, he said. But the lie about Iran that has the potential to do some serious damage to Obama – and to Clinton.
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Five Americans held in Iran were released in January in exchange for seven detained Iranians.
During a presidential rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, GOP nominee Donald Trump blasted President Barack Obama for the new admission, stating that this would put Americans traveling overseas at risk for kidnapping, the Boston Herald reports.
Right-wing media distorted news of the cash transfer – which related to a settlement reached in 1979 “over a failed arms deal” that was resolved in The Hague – to falsely claim the transfer had been done in secret and that the payment was ransom.
Critics, including Katko, previously called the cash delivery a “ransom”, but President Barack Obama’s administration denied that accusation. “It was money that they were going to get back anyway”, he said. “He lied about the hostages, openly and blatantly”.
But suppose Obama had announced, while the Americans were still imprisoned in Iran, that the US wouldn’t return funds rightfully belonging to Iran until the Americans were released?
He said nowhere in the discussions about getting the US hostages was there talk about “paying ransom” to get them back.
“This wasn’t some nefarious deal”, Obama said during an August 4 press conference.
“But we wouldn’t be having this discussion if the Islamic Republic were a government that abided by worldwide norms and did not arbitrarily hold hostages as bargaining chips”, he said. They weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. The money belongs to Iran, and eventually it would have been returned.
The administration denies this cash shipment, which included Swiss Francs and other foreign currencies, was a ransom paid to Iran. The claim involved a trust fund used by Iran to purchase U.S. arms before 1979.
A ruling on the military fund was expected soon, the official said, as Iran asked past year for the tribunal to hear its case and Tehran and Washington had been negotiating proposals for a hearing. Since Iran is under global sanction, the government had no choice but to receive the funds in cash.
With “Republicans” controlling both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, Obama’s deal with Iran should have easily gone down in defeat. Broadcaster TVV reported that the $1.7 billion, along with the release of the Iranian prisoners and dropping extradition requests for other individuals, was in exchange for the freedom of the four Americans.
Some Iranian officials immediately linked the payment to the release of four Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who had been held in Iranian prisons.
That same day, we have come to find out, the American government sent $400 million in cash to Iran. At what point would it have been permissible to pay Iran what was owed to it? Iran also became miffed when it learned that the prisoners being released in the United States didn’t want to travel to Iran, the official said.
Kirby said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program that the US offers “no apologies”.
Earlier this month, after the revelation the USA delivered the money in cash using nondollar currencies, the administration flatly denied any connection between the payment and the prisoners.
And that is why the US made a decision to use the settlement money as leverage, the official said.
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“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”, Kirby told The Journal, which first reported the $400 million cash payment, earlier this month.
