US payment of $1.7 billion to Iran made entirely in cash

[webfact]

US payment of $1.7 billion to Iran made entirely in cash 
RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration acknowledged late Tuesday that its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier this year was made entirely in cash, using non-U.S. currency, as Republican critics of the transaction continued to denounce the payments.

 

Treasury Department spokeswoman Dawn Selak said in a statement the cash payments were necessary because of the "effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions," which isolated Iran from the international finance system.

 

The $1.7 billion was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the U.S. and Iran. An initial $400 million of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency was delivered on pallets Jan. 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners.

 

The Obama administration had claimed the events were separate, but recently acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave Iran. The remaining $1.3 billion represented estimated interest on the Iranian cash the U.S. had held since the 1970s. The administration had previously declined to say if the interest was delivered to Iran in physical cash, as with the principal, or via a more regular banking mechanism.

 

Earlier Tuesday, officials from the State, Justice and Treasury departments held a closed-door briefing for congressional staff on the payments, according to a Capitol Hill aide familiar with the session. The officials said the $1.3 billion was paid in cash on Jan. 22 and Feb. 5. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

 

The money came from a little-known fund administered by the Treasury Department for settling litigation claims. The so-called Judgment Fund is taxpayer money Congress has permanently approved in the event it's needed, allowing the president to bypass direct congressional approval to make a settlement. The U.S. previously paid out $278 million in Iran-related claims by using the fund in 1991.

 

Republicans have decried the payments as ransom, a charge the Obama administration has rejected. On Tuesday, a group of Republican senators announced their support for legislation that would bar payments from the Judgment Fund to Iran until Tehran pays the nearly $55.6 billion that U.S. courts have judged that it owes to American victims of Iranian terrorism.

 

"President Obama's disastrous nuclear deal with Iran was sweetened with an illicit ransom payment and billions of dollars for the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the bill's primary sponsor.

 

Both the House and Senate are planning to hold hearings on the payments.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-07

[ezzra]

 

Way to go Barac Husain Obama, time will tale how wrong you and your arab/muslims appeasing administrations were horribly wrong to conceder and treat Iran as an allay, time will tell how your decisions to grant Iran a deal to  keep their nukes facilities were the nail in the coffin of true world peace, and you Mr. Obama will be remembers as the worst president in US history......

[Ulysses G.]

Of course. Cash is how ransoms are paid.

[MaxYakov]

The payment to Iran by any means was ridiculous.

 

Instead, I would have sent them a bill for 1.7 Billion (or even more) for invading sovereign U.S. ground (the U.S. embassy) and holding 52 diplomats and American citizens hostage for 444 days.

[Rob13]

ridiculous.

[craigt3365]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

Way to go Barac Husain Obama, time will tale how wrong you and your arab/muslims appeasing administrations were horribly wrong to conceder and treat Iran as an allay, time will tell how your decisions to grant Iran a deal to keep their nukes facilities were the nail in the coffin of true world peace, and you Mr. Obama will be remembers

as the worst president in US history......

Not so sure they consider Iran an allay.  Perhaps this was also done to hit back at Russia and Saudia Arabia?  Iran is pumping oil like never before.  And killing the other two countries.

[Mister Fixit]

23 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

Of course. Cash is how ransoms are paid.

 

 

It's also easier to pay off all those with their snouts in the trough.

[Steely Dan]

Well it's certainly bought an improvement in Iran's behavior, as demonstrated by them halting aggressive actions against U.S navy vessels.......hang on.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[halloween]

Would you take a cheque from someone $19 trillion (and rising) in debt?

[craigt3365]

1 hour ago, halloween said:

Would you take a cheque from someone $19 trillion (and rising) in debt?

In a heartbeat!

[elgordo38]

Gold only thank you no non American currency. 

[williamgeorgeallen]

scratch that

Edited September 7, 2016 by williamgeorgeallen

[Emster23]

" The $1.7 billion was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the U.S. and Iran. "

 Pretty sneaky of Obama to have set up that claim decades ago just so he could pay ransom to his Mooslim brothers.

It was part of the deal for stopping nuke program period. Which if I may remind some posters, also included Russia, China, etc. USA made nuke deals with USSR at height of cold war, if you dare to crack a history book if memory fails you. If they want to start a shoot em up in Hormuz, that is something altogether difference.

 The US simply kept up it's part of the deal. You got a problem with that?

[sanukjim]

Our Boy Obama has done it again. Kissing the asses of terrorist . Before Obama The United States policy on ransoms was a BIG NO WAY. In paying the ransom you now make more doctors and others doing humanity work out side of their homes NON SAFE.

[BuaBS]

It's only paper money , no real value .

[chilli42]

Does anyone on this forum bother to look into the facts behind this?  Keep watching Fox News, those are the only facts you will ever need to critically anslyize any situation.

[Chicog]

And they still never got their fighters.

 

[kamahele]

For those conspiracy theorists and racists who are still chanting Obama is a Muslim and this was part of a ransom deal, this was Iran's money. It didn't belong to the US. The US as part of a deal with several other nations and the UN, negotiated a deal which took away Iran's capability to manufacture their own nuclear weapons. Look past your hate of Obama to see the greater good. Instead of following Israel's wishes for the US to intervene militarily by bombing Iran, not one life was lost in securing this negotiated deal.

[umbanda]

More ammunition for Trump.....

[sanukjim]

3 hours ago, halloween said:

Would you take a cheque from someone $19 trillion (and rising) in debt?

To put a trillion dollars of The USA in perspective,during the housing bubble in about 2009 in one state alone in The US there was a loss of 8 trillion dollars .That state has now recovered all but 1.2 trillion dollars back.So The United States has States that individually are worth more then 80% of all the other countries in the world.That 19 trillion in in bonds being held by speculators seeking a profit in the long run. And to answer your question YES any country in the world would love a cheque from Uncle Sam.

[sanukjim]

1 hour ago, BuaBS said:

It's only paper money , no real value .

It is in BONDS . Do you get passed the funnies in the news paper ?

[rosst]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

 

Way to go Barac Husain Obama, time will tale how wrong you and your arab/muslims appeasing administrations were horribly wrong to conceder and treat Iran as an allay, time will tell how your decisions to grant Iran a deal to  keep their nukes facilities were the nail in the coffin of true world peace, and you Mr. Obama will be remembers as the worst president in US history......

Well, I think you covered all the cogent issues, what an <deleted>. 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed.  

[autanic]

If $1.7 Billion is the price of peace. Then it is a bargain.

Time will tell, if the Iranians can be trusted, in the meantime work continues on my Nuclear Shelter. Just in case Yeah.

[Rob13]

2 hours ago, Emster23 said:

You got a problem with that?

 

 

yes, i do.

[Andaman Al]

There is a big problem for Iran and it NEEDS cash as in paper USD. This is their money and it is hardly surprising they wanted cash. Many sanctions have been lifted and many countries are trying to trade with Iran. One of my companies now started recently  finding buyers for Iranian Fuel/Oil. Few people will buy the Iranian products because the Iranians are demanding a 30% cash payment on order because they need physical cash/notes, normally these deals are done purely on letters of credit with other countries, not so Iran. Iran is a country bursting with natural resources. It was the west that screwed the place up from the 50's onwards. The normal people are the most hospitable I have ever met, it is just a VERY small army of nut cases at the top that are ruining the most beautiful country in the Middle East. If the west and the CIA were to use the same subterfuge now as they did in the 50's to overthrow the Government there now, then Iran would be an amazing country. Give it a chance. The normal folks are not interested in ME domination or Nukes. Get rid of the Religious fruit cakes and they would return to the model democracy they were in the 40's and 50's. Anyone here ever done a bike tour through there   If we want peace in the ME then we must let Iran prove themselves over the next few years. If they do not give a 'satisfactory' showing then lock them down economically. The 1.7B USD was NOT hostage money that is utter nonsense.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Andaman Al

[SOTIRIOS]

....the pathetic world of lies that we live in....

[hawker9000]

The Master Statesman strikes again.

[Krataiboy]

AYATOLLAH DON'T LIKE DOLLAR

 

My guess is the Iranians refused to be paid in dollars because they believe - along with many others - that the world's reserve currency is  riding for a fall.  We'll get a hint next month when the IMF unveils its new basket of SDR currencies. 

 

A number of the larger economies, as well as Iran,  are cashing in their dollar reserves and buying as much gold as they can afford - another sign that the greenback - which the late Muhammar Ghadaffi and Saddam Hussein were plotting to replace with a gold dinar for oil sales in the region before Shock and Awe arrived - is falling out of favour

 

The foreign currency the Iranians demanded to be paid in was almost certainly the Euro, which (incredibly to Brexiters and lots of others out there who predict a sticky end for the EU) the ayatollahs clearly regard as a more reliable investment than the almighty dollar.  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-07/iran-says-no-thanks-dollars-demands-euro-payment-oil-sales

 

Lots of leading financial commentators, as well as former US Congress veteran Ron Paul, are predicting that the next major financial crash (expected anytime soon) will not be a credit crunch but a currency crisis caused by a dramatic devaluation of the dollar. Hence the widespread surge in the popularity of tangible assets like gold and silver over fiat currency.

 

Another reason to hold at least some tangible assets is the gradual but relentless rolling out the globalist dream of a cashless society, which would give  governments and central banks total control of the money supply. 

 

Brexit was a wake-up call we should all heed unless we want to end up as sheeple rather than people.

[Krataiboy]

15 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

There is a big problem for Iran and it NEEDS cash as in paper USD. This is their money and it is hardly surprising they wanted cash. Many sanctions have been lifted and many countries are trying to trade with Iran. One of my companies now started recently  finding buyers for Iranian Fuel/Oil. Few people will buy the Iranian products because the Iranians are demanding a 30% cash payment on order because they need physical cash/notes, normally these deals are done purely on letters of credit with other countries, not so Iran. Iran is a country bursting with natural resources. It was the west that screwed the place up from the 50's onwards. The normal people are the most hospitable I have ever met, it is just a VERY small army of nut cases at the top that are ruining the most beautiful country in the Middle East. If the west and the CIA were to use the same subterfuge now as they did in the 50's to overthrow the Government there now, then Iran would be an amazing country. Give it a chance. The normal folks are not interested in ME domination or Nukes. Get rid of the Religious fruit cakes and they would return to the model democracy they were in the 40's and 50's. Anyone here ever done a bike tour through there   If we want peace in the ME then we must let Iran prove themselves over the next few years. If they do not give a 'satisfactory' showing then lock them down economically. The 1.7B USD was NOT hostage money that is utter nonsense.

 

 

Your rosy picture of Iran in the "good old days" is at odds with reality. The Shah - yet another puppet dictator inflicted on his people by the Anglo-US alliance - and his dreaded secret police made life a misery for the people. Thousands were killed and incarcerated and while life for a privileged few was enjoyable, for the masses it was so bad that they rose up in a massive protest to depose his bloody regime. Had Mossadeq not been removed (with CIA assistance) to make way for the Shah, the fundamentalist elements which propelled the ayatollahs into power would never have won popular support and the Iran of today would have been closer to that which you imagine existed when it was a dictatorship.