The US Government secretly airlifted the equivalent of $400 million in hard currency to Iran in January that coincided with the release of four American detainees, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Republicans immediately accused the Obama administration of making a “ransom” payment, but officials denied any such link, saying the payment was the first instalment of a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve an old dispute with Tehran over a failed 1979 arms deal signed before the Iranian revolution.
The $400 million worth of cash made up of euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were stacked in wooden pallets that were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, the WSJ reported, citing unnamed US and European officials and Congressional staff briefed on the secret operation.
The money was reportedly acquired from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland since making a transaction with Iran in American dollars is illegal under US law.
The cash transfer that was said to be part of the settlement resolving claims before an international tribunal in The Hague coincided with the formal implementation that same weekend of the landmark nuclear deal that US and five other major powers had reached with Iran.
“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 said.
“Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side, including, in the case of The Hague claims, by technical
experts involved in these negotiations for many years,” Kirby said.
Citing US officials, the WSJ reported that the Iranians were demanding the return of $400 million the Shah’s regime deposited into a Pentagon trust fund in 1979 to purchase US fighter jets. They also wanted billions of dollars as interest accrued since then.The four American prisoners set free by Iran included Saeed Abedini, Nosratollah Khosravi, Amir Hekmati and Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.
Republicans, known for their hard line against Iran and the nuclear deal with it, were apparently unconvinced by the official explanations. Senator Tom Cotton accused President Obama of paying “a $1.7 billion ransom to the ayatollahs for US hostages”, saying: “This break with longstanding US policy put a price on the head of Americans, and has led Iran to continue its illegal seizures.”
Another Republican Senator, James lankford from Oklahoma, has been quoted as saying that the payment was “an appalling example of executive branch governance” and that it will fund Iran’s military expansion.