State Department confirms payment to Iran was contingent on release of hostages

After weeks of denial that the $400 million payment made to Iran in January was ransom for the release of Americans held in that country, the Obama administration’s story is rapidly unraveling.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the cash payment was held until the Swiss Air Force plane carrying the freed Americans departed Tehran. Once the plane was clear, an Iranian plane carrying the cash was allowed to depart Geneva. While President Obama has repeatedly denied that the payment was a ransom, the AP is now reporting that State Department has now confirmed that the payment was, in fact, contingent on Iran’s release of their American prisoners.

This latest revelation into President Obama’s dealings with Iran further calls into question the Iran nuclear deal, which provides billions of dollars in sanctions relief to the state sponsor of terror, and which House Democrats continue to support in the face of mounting evidence of the deal’s recklessness.

NRCC Comment: “Today’s revelation that the Obama administration’s $400 million cash payment to Iran was, in fact, contingent on the release of American prisoners, despite President Obama’s insistence that it was not a ransom, shows just how misguided the Obama-Clinton foreign policy really is. House Democrats’ continued defense of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, despite mounting evidence that Iran has no interest in living up to their end, is inexcusable and shows just how clueless they really are on matters of national security.” – NRCC Spokesman Bob Salera