It seems that Americans made an excellent deal, returning the money that they already had to return, while achieving the release of four civilians. But he noted the USA withheld the delivery of the cash as leverage until Iran permitted the Americans to leave the country. If that wasn’t the case, there was no need for.
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The White House spokesman explained that USA officials were engaged in three separate diplomatic tracks around the time of the exchange in January.
“One of the Iranian-Americans in a USA prison then refused his pardon initially”, said the official, “and the Iranians in Geneva said that, unless he accepted his pardon, they would not release our people”. The Democrats, in turn, strongly criticize Trump for his friendly remarks about the Russian President, for the time when he jokingly appealed to Russia with a request to find the 30 thousand missing emails of Clinton, as well as for his readiness to consider the abolition of the anti-Russian sanctions.
Saying the return of the prisoners was the administration’s top priority, Kirby said: “We wanted to keep as much leverage as possible”.
On Thursday, the State Department’s spokesman, John Kirby, said the U.S. used the $400 million as “leverage” to address concerns Iran might renege on the release.
However, the top GOP leadership and the Trump campaign was creticising the Obama Administration blaming that United States paid ransom for release of its prisoners. “The president owes the American people a full accounting of his actions and the risky precedent he has set”.
Previously the administration denied any link between the payment and the release of four prisoners.
Issues of United States foreign policy traditionally become one of the key factors during United States presidential races. USA officials wouldn’t let Iran bring the cash home from a Geneva airport until a Swiss Air Force plane carrying three of the freed Americans departed from Tehran, the paper reported. USA officials have said they expected an imminent ruling on the claim and settled with Tehran instead. “This wasn’t some nefarious deal”, Obama said on August 4, the day after the report came to light. Kirby, in front of a group of prodding, aghast reporters, refused to label the transaction as a ransom while admitting the payment was “contingent” upon the prisoner release. “The Iranians thought we were pulling a fast one on them, because why would this guy not accept his pardon?”
Another of the prisoners, pastor Saeed Abedini, also had linked the two events. This is another example in a long line of efforts by the Obama Administration to mislead the American people.
When asked if the President was aware that senior national security officials objected to the release of cash due to concerns surrounding timing and optics, Earnest replied, “The President of course discussed these arrangements with members of his national security team and there was unanimous agreement among his national security team that he should move forward because of the many benefits I just described”. The U.S. also returned several prisoners to Iran.
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“The administration clearly has a lot of explaining to do”, added Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the House Financial Services Committee chairman, saying Congress must “fully investigate this outrageous action”.
