White House insists payment to Iran was not ransom
The White House and State Department gave conflicting explanations Monday for the administration’s alleged $400 million ransom payment to Iran, with President Obama’s spokesman still insisting the money was part of an old arms deal and a spokesman at Foggy Bottom conceding again that it was “leverage” to gain the release of four American hostages.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest wouldn’t even utter the word “leverage” in a 90-minute press briefing that dealt primarily with the question of a ransom payment.
“That is a word I have not used,” Mr. Earnest said.
But a State Department spokesman said last week that the payment in January was contingent on Iran releasing the hostages, and the agency reiterated its view Monday that the money was used as leverage for gaining the Americans’ freedom.
“It would have been imprudent for us to have handed over that money and not used it as leverage,” said department spokesman Mark Toner. “It was not ransom because this was money that we owed the Iranian government.”
Republican lawmakers have vowed to hold hearings on the issue when Congress returns to Washington after Labor Day. Sen. Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, sent a letter Monday to Secretary of State John F. Kerry demanding answers on the administration’s $1.7 billion arms-deal settlement with Iran, of which the $400 million was said to be the first installment
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