State Dept. says $400 million cash payment to Iran was contingent on American prisoners' release

Just breaking... from the AP

bigstory.ap.org...

WASHINGTON (AP) — State Dept. says $400 million cash payment to Iran was contingent on American prisoners' release.

That's all that's printed so far, I guess the term ransom fits now......

a reply to: JacKatMtn

Time to collect more hostages.

a reply to: IAMTAT

I believe that Iran already has taken 2 more prisoner/hostages since this deal went down...

So the conspiracy is true !!!

Sunny Beaches.

Um... Doesn't that make President Obama a liar?

Why are they not going along with the "Official" story?

And there I was thinking that most western countries never paid a ransom to hostage takers, because it encourages other hostages to be taken?

You learn something new everyday!!

Edit- it says it was Iran's money anyway, so I guess it was released as part of an exchange agreement. Better than arms I guess?

originally posted by: chiefsmom
Um... Doesn't that make President Obama a liar?

Why are they not going along with the "Official" story?

I bet somebody got some real evidence, so they will now change the narrative.

And yes, Obama was always lying. It's in his blood.

A more fleshed out article here:

US says $400M payment was contingent on release of prisoners

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says a $400 million cash payment to Iran was contingent on the release of American prisoners.

Spokesman John Kirby says negotiations over the United States’ returning Iranian money from a decades-old account was conducted separately from the prisoner talks. But he says the U.S. withheld delivery of the cash as leverage until the U.S. citizens had left Iran.

Both events occurred Jan. 17.

Kirby spoke after The Wall Street Journal reported that the departures of the crisscrossing planes were linked.

So Iran was owed money from an old account to the tune of $400m...

But the US refused to pay it unless the hostages were released...



Um, that's not an Iranian ransom, it's a US blackmail.

Nice spin AP.

a reply to: [post=21145415]JacKatMtn[/post

In no way a fan of Obama but the headline is nothing more than a headline.

Its just as likely this was a seized asset and in the terms of release of siezed asset was the release of hostages.

we do not negotiate with hostages

...unless of course we're also the ones who arranged the hostage situation in the first place, and the payout is actually just transferring funds to a black ops game.

Trump right again.

And of course no apology from the Obama whitehouse or his lapdog media for calling Trump a liar.

originally posted by: lordcomac
we do not negotiate with hostages

...unless of course we're also the ones who arranged the hostage situation in the first place, and the payout is actually just transferring funds to a black ops game.

Uhh did you guys not read. We didnt pay anything. It was Irans money we gave back under conditions .

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Trump right again.

And of course no apology from the Obama whitehouse or his lapdog media for calling Trump a liar.

returning Iranian money from a decades-old account was conducted separately from the prisoner talks. But he says the U.S. withheld delivery of the cash as leverage until the U.S. citizens had left Iran. 

That actually sounds pretty smart to me.

gee, wonder how much more that money would have bought decades ago compared to now???

would love to know the story behind seizing that money to begin with... since, I can only remember one time.... back in the clinton years when the shah was removed and all those hostages were taken...
if it was that money, hey, the dollar had a heck of a lot more buying power back then!!!


so I wonder, if the swiss gov't decided to seize the money from all those rich american citizens and business and held it for decades like this... would you still consider it ransom if it was returned in exchange for prisoners or something else the swiss wanted?
first I don't think it would take that long to get the money back... or blow it to hades when they refused to give it up!
and second, you all would be griping because of the fact that those accounts had lost a great amount of value because of inflation... even though it was the americans that deflated the dollar and not the swiss!

you actually think that the iranians are gonna be that grateful to have it given back now that it's worth so much less?

a reply to: luthier


Don't we have to know the complete back story about this issue before we can make claims about what is what?
Were we going to send that money back? Did the Iranians demand that money for the release? What kind of third-party negotiations were involved to make this affair happen? So far, from what we have to go on, I don't see it as a "ransom" case.

originally posted by: luthier

originally posted by: lordcomac
we do not negotiate with hostages

...unless of course we're also the ones who arranged the hostage situation in the first place, and the payout is actually just transferring funds to a black ops game.

Uhh did you guys not read. We didnt pay anything. It was Irans money we gave back under conditions .

Ok... So tell me this. Would we have given that money back if they didn't have hostages?

Hmmm Still looks like a ransom to me.

I guess they've decided to come clean before Wiki-leaks, the Russians, or Guccifer, informed the world. All the other secret keepers (Hello Hillary?) should wise-up and follow suit.

a reply to: dawnstar

Here's where it came from:

But still at issue as Obama began his second term was $400 million that Iran in the late 1970s had paid for U.S. fighter jets, while Tehran was still a U.S. ally. After it turned into an enemy in 1979, Washington was not about to deliver the jets. But, all these years later, Iran wanted its money back—and with interest.

All told, Tehran was asking The Hague arbitrators (comprising equal numbers of U.S., Iranian and neutral judges) for $10 billion. Fearing they might actually be awarded that much, or something like it, the Obama administration negotiated privately with Tehran, which agreed to settle for $1.7 billion. The $400 million stacked on pallets was the first installment.

Link.

So another $1.3b to go.