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: 2) by butthurt on Thursday August 04 2016, @09:22PM
"It was Iraq's money from Iraqi oil sales." Iraq's assets in the U.S. had been frozen as part of the economic sanctions against Iraq, due to the monstrous actions of its secular government.
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/07/acd.02.html [cnn.com]
This is a completely different situation. Iran's assets in the U.S. had been frozen as part of the economic sanctions against Iran, due to the monstrous actions of its theocratic government.
It's easy to confuse Iraq with Iran, because they differ by only one letter. Don't make this common mistake.
I, for one, am glad that the media have at last exposed the secret payments made to Iran in this deal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-claims-100-billion-now-freed-in-major-step-as-sanctions-roll-back/2016/02/01/edfc23ca-c8e5-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html [washingtonpost.com]
https://www.rt.com/business/329413-iran-frozen-assets-release/ [rt.com]
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iran-frozen-assets-20160120-story.html [latimes.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/16/sanctions-against-iran-to-be-lifted-after-compliance-with-nuclear-deal [theguardian.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Friday August 05 2016, @11:42AM
I remember this game! I pick, "Col. Ollie North, with a cake, in Tehran!" What do I win?
What? A stick? A clue stick? And you are going to do what with it? Silly Republicans!!