The State Department said Thursday $400 million in cash paid to Iran as part of the nuclear deal signed past year was used as “leverage” against Tehran to ensure the American prisoners were first released.
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New details from the Wall Street Journal emerged Wednesday night revealing that US officials refused to transfer the money to Iran until three freed Americans aboard a Swiss Air Force plane were en route from Tehran.
“Let me address this whole issue of timing this way”.
That question among many others is what U.S. Rep Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., wants to ask the U.S. Treasury Department, and he says he’s not going to back down until all is known. The US and Iran have been negotiating the Iranian claim to the money since 1981, and Kerry said that negotiation was separate from the nuclear deal and discussions about Americans held in Iran.
The Wall Street Journal cites one of the prisoners, Pastor Saeed Abedini, who said that he had heard from a senior Iranian intelligence official that the departure of the prisoners was contingent on the fate of a second airplane.
Levinson was not included in the hostage release. “Who instructed them to do it and on what authority”.
Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted in response to the Wall Street Journal account, “Obama administration sent plane load of cash to #Iran as ransom as part of deal on hostages”.
“With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well”, was all Obama said on January 17.
“It would have been foolish, imprudent, and irresponsible for us not to try to maintain maximum leverage”, Kirby said.
In reality the payment, stemming from a “decades-old” agreement, was “conducted separately from the prisoner talks” and was withheld as “leverage until the United States citizens had left Iran”.
Republicans are proclaiming that they have proof via that State Department’s spokesperson that the Obama administration admitted to paying Iran $400 million in return for four USA prisoners. “That was our top priority”.
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Negotiations regarding the cash payment were conducted separately from the negotiations regarding the prisoners, affirmed spokesman John Kirby.
