It seems the U.S.’ negotiations with Iran to free five prisoners may have been more costly than originally imagined. Earlier this year, the U.S. delved into 14 months of secret negotiations to secure the release multiple prisoners, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian. It was thought this would be a standard prisoner swap, but now, CBS News reports that the U.S. paid Iran nearly $400 million at the same time.
In what seems like something out of a Robert Ludlum novel, the cash was flown in by a cargo plane with a number of different currencies. The U.S. did this because exchanging U.S. currency in this situation is against the law. Some U.S. officials have said this is pure coincidence as President Obama planned on paying Tehran 2 billion dollars for a legal dispute stemming from the 1979 Islamic revolution. State Department spokesperson John Kirby said both negotiations were made at separate times and this is mere happenstance:
“As we’ve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim at the Hague Tribunal were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home. 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. The funds that were transferred to Iran were related solely to the settlement of a long-standing claim at the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal at The Hague.”
But some people are not satisfied with this explanation, as Congress was not consulted about the transactions. Senator Mark Kirk said that the appearance of paying a ransom could have put more people in danger:
“While Americans were relieved by Iran’s overdue release of illegally imprisoned American hostages, the White House’s policy of appeasement has led Iran to illegally seize more American hostages. Paying ransom to kidnappers puts Americans even more at risk.”
Kirby went on to say the U.S. did not hide this from anyone, stating the President spoke about it in January, and this was definitely “not ransom.”
State Dept spox says $400 million cash transfer to Iran was "not ransom" for US hostages. https://t.co/bu2XpogdY5 pic.twitter.com/GpTlXzwlg9
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 3, 2016