Repeating past administration statements, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the negotiations to return the Iranian money from a 1970s account to buy us military equipment were conducted separately from talks to free four USA citizens in Iran. “Of course it was an exchange”. Previously, President Barack Obama and other officials had denied any such linkage. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida points out that the Iranians saw it as a ransom.
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“I can assure you that we don’t do anything without notifying Congress, regardless of what that may be”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said after the Journal story broke.
“Already under fire for lying to the American people about her illegal email server, Clinton is continuing to align herself with an Administration that has continually lied to Americans as well”, said Jason Miller, Senior Communications Adviser for Trump. He also may have omitted this detail because some of the same Republicans who cried ransom also opposed (and continue to oppose) the global agreement that placed limitations on Iran’s nuclear program, a signature achievement of Obama’s foreign policy and, by most accounts, a success.
This specific claim was in the amount of a $400 million Trust Fund used by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States prior to the break in diplomatic ties.
The equipment was never delivered before the Shah was overthrown in 1979. US officials have said they expected an imminent ruling on the claim and settled with Tehran instead.
“It would have been irresponsible under these circumstances for us to move ahead with the separate Hague settlement and subsequent payment unless and until we knew the Americans were free”, the official said. This recent development has added fuel to the ongoing controversy that got Republicans criticizing Obama administration for paying a ransom.
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby speaks about a hostage situation at a restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, during a press briefing in Washington D.C., U.S. July 1, 2016.
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.
This, he said, was “the only way for the American people to fully known whether their tax dollars went directly to Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”.
Thanks to a bill by U.S. Senator (and Obama golfing buddy) Bob Corker, though, this guaranteed defeat became a guaranteed victory. Separately, the Iranian government released three American prisoners in January.
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The swap was also finalized on the same day that the nuclear deal was implemented and the nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were lifted – a “coincidence”, as officials characterized it, that left some experts wondering whether the exchange was aimed at bolstering overall support for the deal inside Iran.
