White House Gives Iran
$1.7 Billion: Legal Settlement or Ransom Payout for Jailed Americans? By Alice
Greene, 1/26/16
The
Obama Administration handed Iran $1.7 billion this month for what it claims to
be the settling of a legal claim dating back to the 1970s. But the fact that
this payout corresponded to the release of five jailed Americans leads many to
believe that the hefty sum was a ransom.
As
we know, President Obama has a habit of releasing dangerous criminals and
capitulating to ransom requests – even when it comes to traitors like Bowe
Bergdahl.
"US
Bought Freedom of Spies by Releasing $1.7 billion of Iran’s Frozen Assets"
screams the headline by Tehran news agency Fars. Commander
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi of Iran’s infamous Basij militia argues that
America paid this hefty sum in exchange for “its spies held by Iran.” This
statement directly contradicts Obama’s denial that the settling of an old
weapons supply agreement was tantamount to ransom.
“The
annulment of sanctions against Iran’s Bank Sepah and reclaiming of $1.7 billion
of Iran’s frozen assets after 36 years showed that the US doesn’t understand
anything but the language of force,” says Naqdi. “This money was returned for
the freedom of the US spy.”
The
photo above shows Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who was
freed after spending a year and a half of incarceration in an Iranian prison.
He was arrested last year for espionage. Pastor Saeed Abedini, former U.S.
Marine Amir Hekmati, researcher Matthew Trevithick, and Iranian-American
Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari were also released. The four were charged with
various crimes against Iran’s national security.
Former
FBI agent Robert Levinson is still unaccounted for. The fact that the prisoner
release last weekend coincided with the nuclear deal’s Implementation Day has
raised questions about the massive payout. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton wonders
if the $1.7 billion was “part of the ransom that we had to pay to get innocent
Americans back from Iranian captivity.”
I’d like to note that the ‘legal settlement’
included an alleged $1.3 billion in interest. “We’re awaiting details
from the administration on the ransom paid for their freedom,” said House
Speaker spokeswoman AshLee Strong. She told the Washington Post that Obama was “giving Iran a roughly $1.7
billion cash infusion” for the release of the jailed Americans.
Press
secretary Josh Earnest denies that the payout was a ransom. “Paul Ryan has
suggested this was a ransom payment,” he said on ABC News. “He’s wrong about
that.” ABC host Jon Karl put Earnest on the spot with his
response: “The Department of State announced this payment of $1.7 billion
to the government of Iran just before the plane carrying the freed Americans
landed in Geneva. You’re really telling me that this is an absolute coincidence
that this payment just happened to coincide with the precise moment when the
American prisoners were flying to freedom?”
Earnest
admitted that it was “not a coincidence” and explained that Implementation Day
“created a series of diplomatic opportunities for the United States that we’ve
capitalized on.”
“We
used that opening and we used that deeper diplomatic engagement to secure the
release of five American citizens who were being unjustly held inside of Iran,”
he continued. “And we used that diplomatic opening to resolve a longstanding
financial claim that the Iranians had against the United States.”
http://punchingbagpost.com/white-house-gives-iran-1.7-billion-legal-settlement-or-ransom-payout-for-jailed-americans
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