The former Democratic president of the United States sent a sum of around USD 400 million in cash to Iran in 2016
Government officials defended the operation, noting that the money originally belonged to Iran and that there was no way to transfer it electronically due to international financial sanctions. For this reason, the cash was obtained from central banks in Switzerland and the Netherlands and sent on an unmarked cargo plane.
Josh Earnest, then White House spokesperson, insisted that the decision was strategic, as part of the process to ensure Iran would not obtain nuclear weapons and to solve longstanding disputes.
He maintained that the agreement saved American taxpayers billions, since Iran was claiming more than $10 billion in arbitration. In the end, a payment of $400 million plus $1.3 billion in interest was agreed upon.
On the same day as the payment and the release of the prisoners, the United States also imposed new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile tests, while unfreezing between $50 billion and $150 billion in Iranian assets as part of the nuclear agreement. However, officials clarified that Iran could only access about $50 billion after resolving legal claims.
The controversy intensified when it was revealed that the Clinton administration had promised victims of Iranian terrorism that the $400 million fund would be used to pay their compensation. However, the Obama agreement meant returning the money directly to Iran, leaving those payments to come from the U.S. budget.
The State Department insisted that the negotiations for the reimbursement of the money and the release of the Americans were independent and led by different teams. Although Tehran demanded that both events coincide to show domestic achievements, Washington denied that it was a "quid pro quo."
In January 2016, the administration of Barack Obama authorized the secret transfer of $400 million in cash to Iran, coinciding with the release of four American citizens and the formal implementation of the nuclear agreement with Tehran.
The delivery, carried out on pallets loaded with Swiss francs, euros, and other currencies, was part of a broader $1.7 billion agreement to solve a legal dispute at the Hague Tribunal related to a failed arms deal between the United States and Iran in the 1970s, during the Shah's government.
Although the White House maintained that the payment was not a ransom, but rather a resolution of an old financial claim, the timing of the prisoners' release sparked harsh criticism, especially from Republican lawmakers.
They denounced that the cash delivery amounted to paying a ransom, violating the U.S. policy of not negotiating with hostage-takers, and warned that this would encourage Iran to detain more American citizens for political or economic purposes.
Republican Senator Mark Kirk and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump strongly criticized the measure, arguing that it strengthened a state sponsor of terrorism and weakened the United States' position toward Iran.
Trump stated that "Iran was in trouble," but that after the lifting of sanctions, "it became a power," and called the payment "madness."
Meanwhile, Democrat Hillary Clinton downplayed the controversy, assuring that it was "old news" and that the payment was for compensation for contracts canceled after the fall of the Shah.
