September 7, 2016

By Lorra B.

On Tuesday the Obama administration admitted to transferring $1.7 billion in cash to Iran earlier this year to settle a long ago 1979 arms deal that went wrong.

An initial $400 million was sent to Tehran Jan. 17. Ironically, that was the same day Iran agreed to release four American prisoners. Congressional officials stated that the remaining $1.3 billion was paid in two more installments, one on Jan. 22 and the other on Feb. 5.

Treasury spokesperson Dawn Selak stated, “The form of those principal and interest payments—made in non-U.S. currency, in cash—was necessitated by the effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions regimes over the last several years in isolating Iran from the international financial system.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, The Obama administration was initially unwilling to reveal the inner workings of the &1.7 billion settlement and did not let congress…