The Corner
When Not Spouting About Presidential Qualifications, Obama Piles $400M Cash in Crates and Ships It to Tehran as Ransom
Yes he did do that.
The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward.
Wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, according to these officials. The U.S. procured the money from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland, they said.
The $400,000,000 in material support to terrorism cash payment was made under the guise of settling a 37-year-old dispute over a Carter era arms transaction with the Shah before the revolutionary jihadist regime took power. In reality, it was ransom for American prisoners who were being detained as “spies” by the jihadist regime. The release of the prisoners was presented to the American public as a prisoner swap in which the administration released seven Iranian citizens detained in U.S. prisons and dropped extradition requests on fourteen others. But the cash payment, which was hidden from Congress, arrived in Iran the same day the American prisoners were released. As the Journal notes:
Revolutionary Guard commanders boasted at the time that the Americans had succumbed to Iranian pressure. “Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies,” said Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, commander of the Guard’s Basij militia, on state media.
Obama has long taken the view that the federal law making it a felony to provide material support to terrorism does not apply to the enormous aid and comfort he has provided to our Iranian enemy, the world’s leading state sponsor of anti-American jihadist terror. He evidently had qualms, however, about laws denying Iran access to the U.S. financial system, which bar transactions with Iran in U.S. dollars. To skirt these, the State Department recruited the Swiss and Dutch governments into Obama’s conspiracy. The equivalent of 400 million in U.S. dollars was transferred to their central banks in exchange for hard currency. The piles of euros and francs were then boxed up and flown to Tehran.
Before Obama came to power, it was longstanding American policy neither to negotiate with nor pay ransoms to terrorists because it only encourages them to seize more hostages and press for more ransoms and concessions. As I pointed out back in 2009, Obama departed from this policy shortly after taking office – for the benefit of Iran, naturally. And this was long before he traded five Taliban commanders for Bowe Bergdahl, a deserter currently facing court-martial.
As night follows day, since Obama sent the jihadist regime the $400 million ransom, the jihadist regime has taken more American hostages. As the Journal reports:
Among the Americans currently being held are an energy executive named Siamak Namazi and his 80-year old father, Baqer, according to U.S. and Iranian officials. Iran’s judiciary spokesman last month confirmed Tehran had arrested the third American, believed to be a San Diego resident named Reza “Robin” Shahini.
Friends and family of the Namazis believe the Iranians are seeking to increase their leverage to force another prisoner exchange or cash payment in the final six months of the Obama administration.
Thank goodness we have such a highly qualified president.