Quote:"Paying ransom to kidnappers puts Americans even more at risk," said Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk.US sent plane with $400 million in cash to Iran - CNNPolitics.com
"We paid $400 million for the hostages," Trump said. "Such a bad precedent was set by Obama. We have two more hostages there right? What's are we going to pay for them? What we're doing is insane."
We're under no illusion that this conspiracy theory will be put to rest. However:
Quote:President Barack Obama said Thursday the U.S. does not pay ransom for hostages. Obama said a $1.7 billion claim settlement he approved with Iran wasn't a secret when it was finalized in January. "This wasn't some nefarious deal," he said. Obama was responding to the revelation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that $400 million of the settlement was delivered by plane to Iran in cash. The payment occurred around the time Iran released four American prisoners. Obama said the timing of the deal was dictated by the assessment of American lawyers, who said waiting could end up costing American taxpayers billions of dollars. He said the payment was cash because the U.S. has no banking relationship with Iran.Obama on Iran payment: It was announced months ago, wasn't some 'nefarious deal'
The $400 million was Iran's to start with, placed into a US-based trust fund to support American military equipment purchases in the 1970s. When the Shah was ousted by a 1979 popular uprising that led to the creation of the Islamic Republic, the US froze the trust fund. Iran has been fighting for a return of the funds through international courts since 1981.
By the way, it's their own money, and it was cutting Iran out of international payment settlement systems that brought them to the negotiating table