As the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was being negotiated, the Obama administration sent $1.7 billion in cash to the government of Iran. Not coincidentally, that cash payment happened right as a number of American prisoners in Iran were released.
Obama personally denied that the payment and the release of American prisoners were related. That narrative didn’t last long, however. Had we been making a good faith payment to Iran for money owed to them in the past (which is what Obama claimed), it would’ve been sent to Iran in the form of a wire transfer. Former Obama State Department official John Kirby accidentally admitted the real reason behind the cash payment, stating that it was to “retain maximum leverage” when the American prisoners were freed. He still denied that the payment was ransom, but also contradicted Obama’s narrative that the cash payment and the freed prisoners were related at all.
Regardless, about a month after the cash transfer, one of Iran’s State-run TV networks released a mini-documentary…. in which the payments were described as ransoms.
And as we’re learning now, that wasn’t all that Obama gave to the Iranians to push the Iran nuclear deal.
According to Fox News, “the Obama administration granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians, including family members of government officials, while negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, a senior cleric and member of parliament have claimed. Hojjat al-Islam Mojtaba Zolnour, who is chairman of Iran’s parliamentary nuclear committee and a member of its national security and foreign affairs committee, made the allegations during an interview with the country’s Etemad newspaper. He claimed it was done as a favor to senior Iranian officials linked to President Hassan Rouhani, and he alleged the move sparked a competition among Iranian officials over whose children would benefit from the scheme.”
And what was this all for? To make a nuclear deal with a country that had no intention of ever honoring the deal in the first place. (RELATED: Iran Continues to Threaten U.S. After Nuclear Deal Pullout). In October and November 2015, just after the nuclear deal was reached, Iran tested new ballistic missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads, in violation of the deal. And again in March of 2016, Iran performed another such test. In April of this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed that Iran has moved their nuclear stockpile to a secret location.
And the fact that Iran has responded to any opposition to the deal by threatening America with military action doesn’t make them look all that trustworthy either. (RELATED: Iran Threatens U.S. Air Bases With Ballistic Missiles).
In terms of foreign policy, America has long abided by the motto “we don’t negotiate with terrorists.” And on that note, what were we doing in the first place negotiating with the world’s largest State sponsor of terrorism?
