Whiskey…Tango…Foxtrot!
The United States’ sent Iran $400 million in debt plus $1.3 billion in interest, and the money was disbursed as a ransom payment for four American hostages of the Islamic regime, a top Iranian commander said Wednesday afternoon. Therefore, the U.S. paid the Iranian regime $425 million dollars per American hostage, according to the commander.
“The annulment of sanctions against Iran’s Bank Sepah and reclaiming of $1.7mln of Iran’s frozen assets after 36 years showed that the US doesn’t understand anything but the language of force,” said Iranian Basij Commander Brig Gen Mohammed Reza Naqdi, addressing his forces in Tehran.
“This money was returned for the freedom of the US spy and it was not related to the (nuclear) negotiations,” he claimed, according to state-controlled Fars News Agency.
Four Americans who were held hostage by the Islamic Republic – Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, Pastor Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosrawi Roudsari (who decided to stay in Iran) – were part of the deal that included the ransom payment, along with the release of seven Iranians who were sitting in American jails on charges of thwarting international sanctions, and the delisting of 14 Iranian nationals from Interpol’s Red List, which seeks international criminals for extradition.
A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, who was imprisoned by Tehran, was also released, but under the terms of a separate deal, according to reports.
The U.S. State Department tells Breitbart News that the payment to Iran was “separate but simultaneous,” and not a ransom.
“We did not pay ransom to secure the return of these Americans. The funds that were transferred to Iran were part of a separate but simultaneous arrangement we agreed to with Iran related to the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal at the Hague,” a State Department spokesperson told Breitbart News late Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters earlier on Wednesday in Washington that no ransom was paid, rejecting the remarks of the Iranian commander.
“There was no bribe, there was no ransom, there was nothing paid to secure the return of these Americans who were, by the way, not spies. We’ve spoken to this in the days after their release on Sunday morning in great detail about how this process worked. There was this consular channel that was opened up to secure their release,” Toner said. Via: Breitbart News
Here is the question we posed after discovering the interesting timing of this $1.7 BILLION payment to Iran while 4 American prisoners were being simultaneously released:
Was this transfer of funds to a terrorist state (via the American taxpayer), the REAL reason the prisoners (hostages) Iran was holding were suddenly released? Did the incompetent Obama-Kerry duo use this “settlement” as a bargaining chip to make it appear as though freeing these hostages was part of the Iran nuclear deal all along? This is absolutely sickening…
The United States and Iran on Sunday settled a longstanding claim at the Hague, releasing to Tehran $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest, the State Department said.
The funds were part of a trust fund once used by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States but which was tied up for decades in litigation at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.
The settlement announcement was made after Tehran released five American detainees in a prisoner swap as a nuclear deal was implemented. Via: Business Insider
