Did Obama pay a $400m ransom for American prisoners?

[superbeets]

[h=2]Did Obama pay a $400m ransom for American prisoners? The US secretly shipped cash to Iran as Americans were released in January - but Obama DENIES it was part of secret deal for their release[/h][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]The pallets, which were stuffed with euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currencies, arrived in the Middle Eastern country on January 17. That same day, four US citizens, including reporter Jason Rezaian (inset), were released in exchange for seven Iranians held in the United States. Officials denied any link between the payment and the prisoner exchange, saying the deal was part of a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve a failed 1979 arms deal. Bur critics claim that the clandestine multi-million dollar payment was part of the hostage negotiations. They also point to the fact that President Barack Obama (left, speaking about the Iran nuclear deal) failed to make any mention of the $400 million when he announced the prisoner exchange. (Pictured right is Iranian President Hassan Rouhani).

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]Did Obama pay a $400m ransom for American prisoners? The US secretly shipped cash to Iran as Americans were released in January - but Obama DENIES it was part of secret deal for their release[/h]

• President Obama's administration paid $400m to Iran as part of a failed arms deal as they also lifted nuclear-related sanctions
• Four Americans were also released by Iran as part of a prisoner exchange
• Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian was among them, U.S. confirms
• Former U.S. Marine, a pastor and a fourth man were also set free
• Critics claim Obama gave cash as hostage payment for the four Americans
• But Us officials insist the exchange came after ease of tensions between the two countries following the resolution
• Fifth American man - a student - was also freed but not as part of the swap

 

[superbeets]

The US secretly flew $400 million stashed inside wooden pallets out to Iran as four Americans were released from Tehran - but the Obama administration insists it was not a ransom payment.
The pallets, which were stuffed with euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currencies, arrived in Tehran on January 17. That same day, four US citizens were released in exchange for seven Iranians held in the United States.
Officials denied any link between the payment and the prisoner exchange, saying the deal was part of a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve a failed 1979 arms deal, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Bur critics claim that the clandestine multi-million dollar payment was part of the hostage negotiations.
They also point to the fact that President Barack Obama failed to make any mention of the $400 million when he announced the prisoner exchange.

+9



Critics have accused the Obama administration of paying a $1.7 billion 'ransom' for the hostages (President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden speaking last year about the Iran nuclear deal)

'With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well,' President Barack Obama said on January 17.
Iranians had demanded the return of the $400 million which was paid to the Pentagon by Iran, shortly before the fall of Iran's last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to purchase US fighter jets.
Officials admit that Iranian negotiators had demanded cash over the exchange to show they had won something from the US in negotiations.
But they insist that negotiations on the prisoner exchange, and the failed arms deal settlement were completely separate.

 

[superbeets]

'As we've made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim…were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home,' State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
US officials admit they realized the United States was going to lose its case over the arms deal in The Hague, where Iran was seeking more than $10 billion compensation.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas, accused the Obama administration of paying a $1.7 billion 'ransom' for the hostages.

+9



President Obama sent $400 million to Iran last January as four American prisoners were released from Tehran, US officials have revealed (Pictured is Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian who had been held by Iran since July 2014)

+9

+9




Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati (left) and pastor Saeed Abedini (right) were among the four men released in Janaury

They have also expressed concerns the money could be used to fund terrorist groups such as Lebanese militia Hezbollah or it could be funding Assad's regime in Syria.
Local press reports also quoted Iranian defense officials describing the money as a ransom payment.
The Obama administration has refused to say how the $1.7 billion was paid.
But officials say the $400 million was paid in foreign currency, because transactions with Iran in US dollars is illegal in the United States.
It was such a large amount of cash that the US was forced to transfer the money into the central banks of the Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Once the dollars were converted to foreign currency, it was stacked in the wooden pallets and sent off to Iran.
The cargo plane carrying the money arrived in Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on January 17 - the same day the American detainees were released.
Negotiations for their release began back in 2014 with Switzerland’s foreign minister hosting the discussions at the InterContinental Hotel, Geneva, on behalf of the US which has not had diplomatic interests in Iran since closing its Tehran embassy following the 1979 hostage crisis.

+9


Sanctions against Iran were lifted in January in a deal credited for bringing about the prisoner exchange (Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in January)

• SHARE PICTURE

​

+9



US Secretary of State John Kerry, hailed the new deal with Iran which successfully resolved a decades-old failed arms deal, is pictured talking with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

 

[superbeets]

+9


John Kerry hailed the lifting of sanctions following a nuclear deal, saying: 'The entire world is safer because the threat of the nuclear weapon has been reduced'





Iran's transport minister said the country had already agreed a deal with Airbus to buy 114 planes after the sanctions are removed.
Secretary of State John Kerry had praised the prisoner release as an improvement in relations between the two countries.
Kerry said Iran had met its obligations to the U.N. atomic watchdog and that the sanctions have now been lifted as per promises made in the landmark nuclear agreement.
In a statement, Kerry said: 'Iran has undertaken significant steps that many, and I do mean many, people doubted would ever come to pass.
'And that should be recognized, even though the full measure of this achievement can only be realized by assuring continued full compliance in the coming years.
'Today marks the moment that the Iran nuclear agreement transitions from an ambitious set of promises on paper to measurable action in progress.
'Today, as a result of the actions taken since last July, the United States, our friends and allies in the Middle East, and the entire world are safer because the threat of the nuclear weapon has been reduced.'
Since the prisoner exchange, Iran's Revolutionary Guard has arrested three more Iranian-Americans.
[h=3]PRISONER SWAP: THE MEN RELEASED AND THEIR ALLEGED CRIMES[/h]American prisoners released by Iran

• Jason Rezaian

Born in Marin, California,, Rezanian's father was an Iranian immigrant, which led to his own lifelong fascination with the Middle East and his ancestral home.
Rezanian moved to Tehran to work as a foreign correspondent after college, before being appointed bureau chief for the Washington Post in 2012, according to the BBC.
Arrested by Iranian authorities in July 2014, Rezanian spent nine months in solitary confinement, reportedly suffering both physical and mental health problems.
Tried in secret for espionage he was convicted on October 2015, though no details of his sentence or the evidence against him were ever released.

• Amir Hekmati

An American of Iranian descent, Hekmati grew up in Flint, Michigan, and served as a U.S. Marine fighting in Iraq during the second Gulf war.
Imprisoned for espionage while visiting his family in Tehran in 2011, Hekmati was subsequently sentenced to death, though this was later overturned, the New York Times reports.
He was then convicted of serving a hostile country and handed a 10-year prison sentence in 2012, which he was appealing before being released.

• Saeed Abedini

Raised in Boise, Idaho, Abedini was a convert to Christianity who later began working for the church, eventually becoming a pastor.
In 2012 Abedini was visiting his family in Tehran while also finalizing arrangements for a Christian orphanage he was due to build in Iran, according to the Be Heard Project.
While there, he was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and spent time in solitary confinement, during which he claimed he was beaten and denied medical treatment.
In 2013 he was sentenced to eight years in prison for subverting Iranian security by creating an international network of churches.

• Nosratollah Khosavi-Roodsari

Nosratollah Khosavi-Roodsari was released alongside the other three Americans but chose to stay in Iran.
Little is known about his background or his arrest.
Iranian prisoners released by America

• Nader Modanlo

Born in Iran, Modanlo is believed to have moved to the U.S. in 1979 before studying at George Washington University and going on to become a mechanical engineer.
His career included jobs at NASA and the Department of Defense before he was arrested in 2010 and accused of illegally providing satellite services to Iran.
Prosecutors said Mondanlo illegally brokered a deal between Iran and a Russian state-backed company to help his home country launch its first satellite.
He was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to eight years in jail, the Huffington Post reports.

• Bahram Mechanic, Tooraj Faridi and Khosrow Afghahi

Iranian-born Mechanic moved to America before making himself a billionaire through his Houston-based electronics company Smart Power Systems.
In April last year Mechanic was arrested after the FBI accused him of being part of a procurement network shipping parts to an Iranian company he also owned to be used in their nuclear program.
Also arrested was Mechanic's nephew, Tooraj Faridi, who was serving as the vice president of Smart Power Systems at the time, along with business partner Khosrow Afghahi, the Houston Chronicle reported.
All three men were awaiting trial before they were released from custody earlier today.

• Nima Golestaneh

An Iranian student studying in Vermont, Golestaneh was accused in 2013 of hacking into the computers of an aerodynamics company to steal millions of dollars worth of computer software.
Detained in Turkey, Golestaneh was deported to the U.S. in February last year in order to face trial, pleading guilty in December. He was awaiting sentencing.

• Arash Ghahreman

Ghahreman was born in Iran but came to the U.S. in 2006 after winning a visa lottery before settling in Staten Island, New York.
Between 2012 and 2013, Ghahreman shipped military-grade navigation equipment overseas to Dubai, where it was collected by a front-company for the Iranian state.
Ghahreman was arrested after a sting by Homeland Security agents, and accused of selling the devices, despite knowing their ultimate location.
In April last year he was sentenced to six and a half years in jail after being found guilty at trial, SI Live reports.

• Ali Saboonchi

A U.S. citizen from Maryland, Saboonchi operated Ace Electric Company from his hometown of Parkville, north of Kansas City.
Starting in November 2009, the FBI claims Saboonchi used his company to export industrial components to Dubai and China, where co-conspirators passed them on to Iran.
In 2014 he was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail, a stretch he was coming to the end of before being released.
Also released...

• Matthew Trevithick

An American student who also worked as a journalist in war-torn nations such as Syria, Mali and Afghanistan was also released by Iran today, though not as part of the prisoner swap.
Trevithick, whose detention was not widely known about until today, had been detained in Tehran in December last year while he was there studying languages.



Read more:

• U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as Americans Were Freed - WSJ

 

[russ1945]

[h=2]REPORT: OBAMA ADMIN AIRLIFTED $400,000,000TO IRAN AS AMERICANS FREED…

…RANSOM: UNMARKED PLANE DELIVERED PAYLOAD…

…FIRST INSTALLMENT![/h]

by WARNER TODD HUSTON​

 

[superbeets]

[URL="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump"] Donald J. TrumpVerified account‏@realDonaldTrump[/URL]
​

​

​

Our incompetent Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was the one who started talks to give 400 million dollars, in cash, to Iran. Scandal!

 

[ScottL]

"The US secretly flew $400 million stashed inside wooden pallets"

Probably the same method Vegas uses to buy games from the NFL League Office

 

[GasMan]

Proving once again Obama and Clinton are the two biggest pieces of shit to ever hold office.