In January 1981, Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the United States. “We do not pay ransom for hostages”.
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Obama said nonpayment of the owed money posed a “significant litigation risk” that could have cost the United States billions of dollars. Those Americans were freed thanks to “the relationships forged and the diplomatic channels unlocked over the course of the nuclear talks”, Kerry preened. The U.S. has agreed to pay the Islamic Republic a total of $1.7 billion to settle the dispute. While the US has far fewer troops in the region than when he took office in 2009, Republicans argue that the drawdown of troops from Iraq created a vacuum that allowed the Islamic State to thrive.
“Kerry: “… But let me speak to this transfer, because I know a lot about it. Because I was, obviously, negotiating the fundamental nuclear agreement with Iran, I’m aware of what was going on-more than aware.
The billionaire has frustrated Republicans in recent days with the lack of discipline at his campaign appearances and may have again stepped on his message by talking about a tape rather than the wider issue of why the United States was sending millions of dollars to its longtime foe.
The coincidence of timing is, in retrospect, unfortunate.
Although concerns persist that the money was a reward for the release of Americans, those concerns relate to four private USA citizens who were held in Iranian prison – not the 10 US sailors who went too close to an Iranian military installation and were briefly held by Iranian forces and reprimanded by their own superiors for the navigation mistake. This commentary has drawn a straight-line between hostage taking and this payment. This agreement explicitly linked return of hostages for sanctions relief and satisfaction of mutual claims.
“Their foreign policy is to destabilize the world – and the Obama administration is subsidizing anarchy and terrorism in the Middle East”. Given the vitriol surrounding the Iran Deal, I challenge those criticizing the Administration now: tell me what day you would not have complained about this claim having been paid and this obligation of 35 years having been settled. In practice, it also essentially served as a ransom payment.
He hopes the most recent deal with Iran will keep more incidents like this from happening.
Details of the cash delivery drew fresh condemnation of the Iran deal from Republicans.
After we gave Iran all it wanted on the nuclear deal, Iran hijacked one of our Navy ships and humiliated our sailors. First of all, the United States of America does not pay ransom and does not negotiate ransoms with any country. He said the US paid Iran in cash because the USA does not grant Iran access to its financial system under current sanctions. The goal of the meeting at the Pentagon was to illustrate the multifaceted USA approach to defeating IS.
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In fact, by most accounts Iran’s anti-Western rhetoric has only intensified since that time, as evidenced by the fact that the hostages released in January were essentially replaced by other dual nationals including the worldwide businessman Siamak Namazi and, much more recently, the recent San Diego State University graduate Robin Shahini. All were released in exchange for the USA prisoners.
