The Obama administration on Friday defended its decision to make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran contingent on the release of American prisoners, saying the payment wasn’t ransom because the Islamic Republic would have soon recouped the money one way or another.
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But critics have said the carefully choreographed payment was, in effect, a ransom paid in violation of US policy meant to discourage hostage-taking.
President Barack Obama had also denied the Journal’s claims.
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska blasted Kirby’s explanation of how the payment arrangement was strategically sound, stating “If a cash payment is contingent on a hostage release, it’s a ransom”. “He lied about the hostages, openly and blatantly”, Trump said.
It was the first public acknowledgement of a link between the cash payment and Iran’s release of prisoners on January 17. But he recently noted the USA withheld the delivery of the cash as leverage to ensure Iran permitted the Americans to leave the country.
“So a number of things were going on which caused us great concern”, the official said.
Obama has said his negotiators secured the USA a good deal on a busy diplomatic weekend that also included finalizing the seven-nation nuclear accord.
Administration officials note that President Obama and other officials never hid the $400 million payment, and spoke about it at the time. “We didn’t here and we won’t in the future”. What’s worse, giving Iran $400 million and getting American prisoners back or giving Iran $400 million and not getting them back?
The official explanation was that the money was part of the $1.7 billion that the US government owed Iran for military equipment it bought from America decades ago; the equipment was never delivered. “Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side, including, in the case of The Hague claims, by technical experts involved in these negotiations for many years”.
The White House announced in January that the US would pay Iran$400 million in the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the USA and Iran reached to resolve a legal dispute over the failed arms deal.
Some Iranian officials immediately linked the payment to the release of four Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.
Mr Kirby reaffirmed the White House claim that the payment was part of $1.7bn (£1.2bn) owed to Iran in a military equipment deal made with the US-backed Shah in the 1970s.
“We do not pay ransom for hostages”, the president said. This recent development has added fuel to the ongoing controversy that got Republicans criticizing Obama administration for paying a ransom.
Pressed to state definitively whether “you wouldn’t give them the $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released”, Kirby replied: “That is correct”. Iran’s recovery was fixed at a reasonable rate of interest and therefore Iran is unable to pursue a bigger Tribunal award against us, preventing USA taxpayers from being obligated to a larger amount of money.
“If it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck”.
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The administration had repeatedly denied the timing of airlifting the cash to Iran at the time of the hostages’ release was anything but a coincidence. “It’s time for the Obama White House to drop the charade and admit it paid a ransom to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism”.
