General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So, this $400 million thing is looking like a thing. [View all]eleny
(46,166 posts)"It was agreed that the Obama administration would pay Tehran $1.7bn to recompense Iran for an aborted arms deal drawn up before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The deal was agreed between Washington and the government of the late shah, but the military equipment was never delivered to Iran.
The court settlement had more of a symbolic significance to Iran and $400m paid in cash was insignificant compared with tens of billions that were about to be released from unfrozen assets. The payment was made in cash because at the time, Irans financial institutions were still completely cut off from the global electronic banking system.
As weve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim at the Hague tribunal were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home, said John Kirby, a state department spokesperson.
Not only were two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side, including, in the case of the Hague claims, by technical experts involved in these negotiations for many years. The funds that were transferred to Iran were related solely to the settlement of a longstanding claim at the US-Iran Claims Tribunal at The Hague. .......
The article never makes a direct link between that and the prisoner swap. The only potentially new thing it reveals is that part of the payment was made in cash. Thats probably only newsworthy because its an election year in the US. "
[link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/03/trump-attacks-clinton-scandal-us-400-million-iran-nuclear-deal|