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The Obama administration quietly shipped $400 million stacked on wooden pallets in an unmarked plane to Iran in January — just as Tehran was releasing four Americans who had been detained there, according to a report.
The huge cash load represented the first payment of a $1.7 billion debt that Iran, at an international tribunal in The Hague, claimed it was owed over a failed 1979 arms deal signed before the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Tuesday night.
The Obama administration was accused Tuesday night of making the cash-for-hostages deal by timing the payout to the release — but US officials said the money was simply part of settling the nearly 40-year-old debt under the terms of the historic nuclear agreement hammered out in 2015.
"As we've made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim . . . were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home," State Department spokesman John Kirby told the Journal.
Source: New York Post
the Obama administration transferred the equivalent of $400 million to their central banks. It was then converted into other currencies, stacked onto the wooden pallets and sent to Iran on board a cargo plane.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
(Score: 4, Informative) by n1 on Thursday August 04 2016, @01:31PM
You must be new here... While this website has a tech focus, we are not editorially confining ourselves to technology.
We are volunteer powered with no commercial interests, it would be a shame to limit our scope to promoting other people's commercial interests -- which is what 80% of tech 'journalism/news' is, glorified press releases -- I think it's good we have the forum and the moderation system for a free and open discussion of global, social, political and economic issues and not just this weeks technology gimmick/phenomenon, changelogs for minor releases of linux distros, or a "production ready in 5-10 years..." type fluff.
Other opinions welcome...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:34PM
Annnd! Loving it!
---Maxwell Smart
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---