SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 3, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:59PM
And tell me exactly how you come to think it normal that I should tell anyone at all what I want to do with my money, regardless of the amount?
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:03PM
You know there is some quote about taxes and avoiding them and death. 10000USD is the limit for a gift not to be taxed. Pretty much everything else you can spend that money on is illegal or already has tax structure in place.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:21PM
For USA the current limit on tax-free gifts is $14,000. Or double that if a couple give to one person.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes [irs.gov]
> How many annual exclusions are available?
> The annual exclusion applies to gifts to each donee. In other words, if you give each of your children $11,000 in 2002-2005, $12,000 in 2006-2008, $13,000 in 2009-2012 and $14,000 on or after January 1, 2013, the annual exclusion applies to each gift. The annual exclusion for 2014, 2015, and 2016 is $14,000.