State Dept. Confirms Obama Paid Iran Another $1.3 Billion

on August 23, 2021 | 9:32:11

The U.S. State Department confirmed Monday that the Obama administration has paid Iran another $1.3 billion to settle a failed arms deal from 1979, but couldn’t describe who in the Iran government it paid, and couldn’t say what form that payment took cash, check or otherwise.

According to Washington Examiner, the State Department also admitted it can’t guarantee that the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps wouldn’t be able to get its hands on the money eventually.

“We can always hand it over to someone who can hand it over to the IRGC,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

The U.S. administration agreed to pay Iran $1.7 billion to compensate that country for its payment to the U.S. in 1979 for military equipment. That deal fell through after Iran’s government was overthrown, and the Obama administration has said it owes Iran this money, plus interest.

The first installment of the payment was a $400 million cash payment, which has drawn criticism from Republicans. They say it looks like a ransom payment to ensure the release of American hostages who Iran released this year.

When asked how the remaining $1.3 billion was paid, Toner said he didn’t know.

“I’ll try my best to get details about that,” he said. He said the problem there is that the government generally doesn’t want to reveal entities that help the U.S. make these payments, since the U.S. has no direct financial relationship with Iran.

But he said he also didn’t know who received the payment.

“I believe it was Iranian officials, Iranian government officials, I don’t know particularly who individually it was,” he said.

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