Republicans seek to censure Obama administration on $400 million ‘ransom’ to Iran

By Karoun Demirjian September 6 at 7:59 PM

Congressional Republicans want to censure the Obama administration for sending $400 million in “ransom” to Iran on the same day as American prisoners were released – an issue they bet will play big on the campaign trail two months before election day.

The move comes as new details are emerging about just how and when the Obama administration completed the transfer of $1.7 billion to settle claims related to the incomplete sale of military weapons before the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

According to two congressional aides, Treasury officials said in a Tuesday congressional briefing that after the U.S. made a $400 million cash payment to Iran on Jan. 16 coinciding with the release of four American prisoners, it also paid out the remaining $1.3 billion of interest in cash, in two tranches on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5.

Treasury Department spokesperson Dawn Selak said Tuesday that the payments, “made in non-U.S. currency, in cash,” were necessary because of how successful sanctions have been at isolating Iran from the international financial system over the last several years. According to Treasury officials, the U.S. did not make the cash payments directly to Iran, though the department would not identify international intermediaries.

Republicans have charged that the initial $400 million was nothing more than a “ransom” payment as it coincided with the release of the prisoners, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. They say the new revelations about the administration’s interest payments are more of the same.

-snip-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/06/republicans-seek-to-censure-obama-administration-on-400-million-ransom-to-iran/?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1