• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Obama lied, it was a ransom payment: US held cash until Iran freed prisoners

Aug 18, 2016 1:13 pm By Robert Spencer

And now “lawmakers are concerned the IRGC may have gained control of the cash once in Tehran.” If the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has the money, it will be going to fund jihad terrorism and other actions against the United States.

Obama7

“U.S. Held Cash Until Iran Freed Prisoners,” by Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee, Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2016:

WASHINGTON—New details of the $400 million U.S. payment to Iran earlier this year depict a tightly scripted exchange specifically timed to the release of several American prisoners held in Iran.

The picture emerged from accounts of U.S. officials and others briefed on the operation: U.S. officials wouldn’t let Iranians take control of the money until a Swiss Air Force plane carrying three freed Americans departed from Tehran on Jan. 17. Once that happened, an Iranian cargo plane was allowed to bring the cash home from a Geneva airport that day.

President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials have said the payment didn’t amount to ransom, because the U.S. owed the money to Iran as part of a longstanding dispute linked to a failed arms deal from the 1970s. U.S. officials have said that the prisoner release and cash transfer took place through two separate diplomatic channels.

But the handling of the payment and its connection to the Americans’ release have raised questions among lawmakers and administration critics….

One of the Americans released in January as part of the prisoner exchange, a pastor named Saeed Abedini, said he and other American prisoners were kept waiting at Mehrabad airport from Jan. 16 to the morning of Jan. 17. He said in an interview that he was told by a senior Iranian intelligence official at the time that their departure was contingent upon the movements of a second airplane. Mr. Abedini said he has been asked to testify next month before the House Foreign Relations Committee.

State Department officials have rebutted Mr. Abedini’s comments, saying the delay in his plane’s departure wasn’t related to a second plane or the payment of the $400 million. They said the delay was solely tied to U.S. efforts to locate the wife and mother of another imprisoned American, the Washington Post’s former Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, and ensuring they were allowed to board the Swiss plane as well.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Iran Air in 2011 for allegedly ferrying weapons and supplies for Tehran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Treasury said in its designation that “IRGC officers occasionally take control over Iran Air flights carrying special IRGC-related cargo.”

Lawmakers are concerned the IRGC may have gained control of the cash once in Tehran. U.S. officials said they are not certain how Iran has used the $400 million that was returned.

The Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Iran Air on Jan. 16—the day before the cash and prisoner transfers— as part of the landmark nuclear agreement reached between Iran, the U.S. and other global powers. The U.S. has maintained sanctions on a second Iranian air carrier, Mahan Air, for its alleged role in facilitating arms shipments for the IRGC.

Obama administration officials have confirmed that they have paid the remaining $1.3 billion to Iran as part of the settlement reached in January on the failed arms deal. This marked the interest accrued over the past 37 years on the original $400 million paid by Iran, though administration officials have said it could have cost some $10 billion without the settlement….

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Featured, Iran Tagged With: Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Saeed Abedini


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. 7%Solution says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    O.K. So, like everything else that’s happened under this administration, what’s going to be done about it? Probably nothing.

    • le Mouron rouge says

      Aug 18, 2016 at 5:21 pm

      Hi 7% Solution,

      Realistically? Nothing! Positively nothing, as we have witnessed over the last 7.8 years.

      You are too kind to qualify the statement with “probably.”

      This is the “Teflon President.”

      The sad part is that he has 4+ months to continue his rein of terror.

      Moments matter. Live them well.

  2. Daniel Triplett says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    The only way I’d set foot in Iran is in an Abrams M-1 tank, surrounded by 40 other M-1 tanks, with a Squadron of A-10s flying overhead for Close Air Support.

    What are these American citizens doing over there in the first place, and why should we all be responsible for forking over Hundreds of Millions to secure their release? Unless an American is an undercover CIA Agent, he shouldn’t be there. Anyone else is just asking for trouble.

    This just puts ALL Americans in danger.

  3. Walter Sieruk says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    How dare Obama pay and ransom and then lie about it to the American people . This is the same President Obama who also said the his Administration would be the ” most open and transparent ” of all Presidential administrations This tuned out to be another one of his lies. . No wonder he like Hillary Clinton, they both had ,at least, one thing in common. They are both pathological liars. Nevertheless ,getting back the Obama’s funding of Iran. The following testimony of a young Iranian women’s is rather interesting. First point: much, if not all, of that money Iran has now obtained, thanks to Obama and Kerry, will now go into funding weapons and other supplies to Iran murderous terror proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Second point: not too long ago young Iranian woman who now lives in an American city that I now also live in. This city has a newspaper and she wrote an article how she and her mother had returned from visiting her sick and dying grandmother in the hospital in Tehran in Iran In that article this young women explained that the medical and health care in Iran’s hospitals is so terrible that the people of Iran view hospitals s place that people go to not get better but to die. The reason the this second point is brought up is that the mullahs and ayatollahs as well as others in power in this Islamic tyranny Iran will not invest those news funds from, Obama and Kerry, in better health care in hospitals but instead use that money to engage in more support for brutal and murderous militant jihad organizations . For those tyrants in power in Iran don’t care, at all, about the Iranian people. They are only interested in furthering their mad jihad Islamic quest.

    • Rufolino says

      Aug 19, 2016 at 3:11 am

      Thank you Walter (I’m just as shocked as you are and I’m English). I’m very concerned by the upcoming Election, like never before: the idea of Clinton getting in and the current state of affairs continuing is too awful to contemplate.

  4. Walter Sieruk says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    The folly and dishonesty of Obama seems to have no limits. That cruel and oppressive Islamic tyranny of Iran would not be support in any way. No excuses. Shame on Obama. This Islamic dictatorship had its origin in the deception of the Iranian people. For this Islamic regime was based in the foundation of false and empty promises. As well as lying words. After the fiendish Muslim clerics obtained total power in Iran they showed their true colors by having their Islamic state police who are called the “Revolutionary Guards truest the people on Iran in many heinously brutal and ruthless ways. As, for example, their brutal, callous misogyny against both girls and women. This thesis statement is explained, in some detail, by the following. This tyrannical Islamic regime in Iran that so falsely and inappropriately has the word “republic” in its title. It should be made known that this called the “Iranian Revolution” turned out to be a hoax. Ayatollah Khomeini before achieving power in Iran in his lying and deceptions presented himself to the Iranian people as if he was someone who would be in power would give freedom to the people of Iran with any tyranny. The reality turned out to be just the opposite. As explained by a former Muslim as well as a man who took part in this Islamic “revolution “ ,who is now a Christian informs the reader of his book that “Prior to the Revolution no one ever imagined that other political parties would be suppressed under the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. He had promised that all groups would have freedom to run their own campaigns after the Revolution. He even stated that governing system would be based on the decision of the people via a referendum. He never spoke of a system that would be governed by Islam. He even made clear that mullahs would not take part in any political activities, and that they would only be allowed to teach spirituality… Immediately after the Revolution, mullahs rushed into government offices to occupy the most important political l positions, making it difficult for the interim secular government to function … The mullah’s occupation of position was exactly the opposite to what the Ayatollah Khomeini had promised before the Revolution.”. [1] In other words, the insincere, disingenuous and outright lying Ayatollah Khomeini made many bogus promise he really had no intention of keeping. His lying deception worked, for he achieved great power in Iran.
    Furthermore, of the many heinously evils outcome s of that Islamic “revolution” is the extremely cruel, brutal and demonic misogyny of this hideous Islamic regime. Not only against women but even young girls. As explained by a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard member who defected to the West and how now lives in America his book also informs the reader about the malicious and murderous affront girls in Iran’s Evin prison which reads that those in power ,the “paraded teenage girls in front in front of me as they led them to their deaths. These girls were barely out of their childhood, barely old enough to think of themselves, much less form thoughts against the state. They knew nothing about the machinations of politics. They were innocent in every sense of the word and certainty innocent of trumped –up charges that led to their imprisonment. Yet they suffered fates too brutal for even the most vicious criminal. ..Their few remaining moments of life had been filled with the level of abuse that few can imagine…The author further states “They tortured and killed young girls, in God’s name and before their execution they raped them because they believed that if a girl dies virgin, she will go to heaven, and they wanted to deny them this reward.” [2] This is as malice -filled and viciously wicked as can possibly be. This, very much, reflects the Wisdom found in the Bible which in Proverbs 15:15. For it reads “All the days of the oppressed are wretched. “ and likewise Proverbs 29:2. Which teaches “When the wicked rule, the people groan. “ [N.I.V.]

    [1] ISLAM THE HOUSE I LEFT BEHIND by Daniel Shayesteh . Pages 90, 91
    [2] A TIME TO BETRAY by Reza Kahlili. Pages 2,3. 117.

  5. The renegade says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    The payment it seems violated US imposed sanctions as well. Bad precedent was set. Paying off Islamic captors a ransom to free kuffurs. They will do this a lot more now.

    If Hillary could get away with all the support she is getting with her lies and “fake smiles campaign”, why can’t Obama?after all he is the president.

    These represent the privileged class of society who are exempt from rules that apply to everyone else like supporting people who failed leading to financial collapse in 2008 with free money to cause an even bigger collapse with their bad work practices to taking bribes in the form of speech fees worth millions of dollars to wall street firms and plush job reserved for them once they complete their terms in white house serving their true masters the Arabs and Wall Street…..

    No matter the day and age we live in, human nature is the only constant…. which is why there were movements for equality and independence from these sort of people… in every generation…

    they will never learn about other people’s problems until they face it themselves…

  6. Francesca says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    Your post is very informative but difficult to read due to lack of paragraphs. Please consider paragraphs for your next posts. Thanks.

  7. Adrian says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 2:10 pm

    First, lying and coverups about a supposed video (and arrest of innocent American) re Benghazi…

    Now, more lies:

    “State Department officials have rebutted Mr. Abedini’s comments, saying the delay in his plane’s departure wasn’t related to a second plane or the payment of the $400 million. They said the delay was solely tied to U.S. efforts to locate the wife and mother of another imprisoned American, the Washington Post’s former Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, and ensuring they were allowed to board the Swiss plane as well.”

  8. Angemon says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    Obama lied, people will die.

  9. Judi says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 7:25 pm

    The Muslim-in-Chief is a close runner up to George Soros, to take the title of “most evil person on the planet”. It’s taken him 7 and a half years to turn the greates country on earth into a Third World banana republic. Heartbreaking!

  10. Jay Boo says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    Hold on just a minute everyone.

    Yes, Obama was criticized.
    BUT
    Left-Wing NPR hijacks this story.
    NPR reports this as if criticism of Obama is about payment Before or After.
    Obama did not hand cash (BEFORE) release, but (AFTER).
    As if that makes it OK.
    Nothing to see here, if one believes the NPR switcheroo.

  11. gravenimage says

    Aug 18, 2016 at 8:30 pm

    Obama lied, it was a ransom payment: US held cash until Iran freed prisoners
    …………………..

    I actually have mixed feelings about this.

    On the one hand, I am appalled that we are paying ransom to the hideous Islamic Republic of Iran.

    On the other hand, for a long time it sounded as though the US was not even going to broach the issue of Iran holding our citizens hostage while it handed the Mullahs the store.

    I am glad that Pastor Saeed Abedini and the others are free; but I fear this will just give Iran further incentive to kidnap our people.

    • Lion of Judah's Cub says

      Aug 20, 2016 at 2:00 pm

      Why did O not care about the Jewish American hostage in Iran?

      Why did two of the American service men who thwarted the IS terrorist attack on a French train narrowly escape death in the U S after their return home?

      Why did the sheriff of Milwaukee who supported Trump have an outbreak of frenzied violence in his community within hours after a black officer killed an armed black male?

      Why did the border area sheriff who supported Trump get charged recently with violation of federal anti-racial profiling laws?

      Qui bono?

  12. David A says

    Aug 19, 2016 at 4:34 am

    I am still waiting for an article anywhere on the inanity of the Os contention that the US had ANY obligation to pay one penny to the murderous Islamic regime which murdered 241 US and over 50 French soldiers in Beirut.

  13. underbed cat says

    Aug 19, 2016 at 5:33 am

    Return to sender. Obama sakat charitable donations to support terrorism should not allowed,under the guise of prisoner release (Iranian Americans) for 400 million or the irainan nuclear treaty 1.3 billion est. to conquer the west…or has he just accomplished that goal.? Pretty clever.

  14. underbed cat says

    Aug 19, 2016 at 5:39 am

    Not to mention “that pin”, the American flag he swore not to wear ….is now worn to say the words I can’t say.

  15. scherado says

    Aug 19, 2016 at 7:28 am

    At mm:ss==01:11 of this C-SPAN clip (link) of the 8/18/2016 State Department press conference, I heard:

    “As we said at the time, we deliberately leveraged that moment…”

    I laughed and stopped watching the moment I heard “leveraged that moment”.

    This means precisely what is being accused.

  16. Karen says

    Aug 19, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    Leverage involves using what power you have to gain an outsized objective. You dangle the carrot until you get what you want; then and only then do you hand over the carrot.

    President Obama can talk all he wants, and send his representatives around with their exquisitely nuanced explanations about merging parallel negotiations, but….the Iranians leveraged *us*, plain and simple. We paid a ransom.

  17. OhOneMoreThing says

    Aug 19, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    Impeach and imprison this law breaking low life President, now. We the people are sick and tired of Executive overreach of the Constitution this President swore an a bible to uphold; or was it a Quran?

  18. duh swami says

    Aug 20, 2016 at 7:16 am

    Rasilullah Obama lied? Tell me it ain’t so’…Why, he would lie to most anyone, if he thought it would do him some good, but he would never lie to the American people…would he?

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Lion heart on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Graham Bryant on Biden vows to surrender to Iran, then negotiate
  • gravenimage on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe
  • Lion heart on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • Graham Bryant on Canadian Mental Health Association studies Muslim women’s mental health due to ‘discrimination’ and ‘hate crimes’

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.