Young Responds to Administration Concealing Cash Airlift to Iran as Americans were Freed

Press Release

Congressman Todd Young (R-IN), lead author of legislation to establish a House Select Committee to conduct oversight of the Iran nuclear deal, responded to reports that the Obama administration concealed an airlift of $400 million in cash to the Islamic Republic of Iran that coincided with the January release of four detained Americans:

"Using unmarked cargo planes to funnel hard cash into the hands of the world's largest state-sponsor of terrorism is beyond shocking, it's dangerous," said Young. "An undisclosed transfer of this amount invites Iran to dispose of the cash at-will toward whatever illicit activity the regime chooses."

"The Obama administration orchestrating this secret airliftwas the same administration negotiating the release of innocent Americans detained in Iranian prisons. That both occurred on the same day is no coincidence and leaves no plausible interpretation besides a quid pro quo ransom rewarded to Iran."

"This entire debacle, from start to finish, lends unprecedented legitimacy to the illegal detention of dual nationals and incentivizes bad actors to imprison more Americans--which the Iranian regime subsequently has done. The White House and State Department promised a thaw in relations with Iran, yet we continue to uncover dangerous capitulations that reward the rogue actions of this terrorist regime. As a nation, we must move beyond this administration's foreign policy of denial and deception." --Congressman Todd Young

Background:

Per the Wall Street Journal: The airlifted cash arrived on the same day the U.S. agreed to drop charges on seven Iranians who violated sanctions in return for the release of four illegally detained Americans, including a Marine veteran and Washington Post reporter. At the time, Iranian Commander Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi boasted: "Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies."

The $400 million in cash is being reported as a "down-payment' on $1.7 billion the U.S. Treasury transferred to Iran's Central Bank in January.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has increasingly has targeted those with Western ties since the nuclear deal and is reported to of detained four dual nationals in the past five months.

Four months after the nuclear deal's implementation, Iran's Guardian Council solidified the 2016-2017 military budget, which included a 90-percent increase in military spending compared to the previous year.

Per Bloomberg View: Article 22 of the budget for 2017 says the Central Bank is required to give the money from the legal settlement of Iran's pre- and post-revolutionary arms sales of up to $1.7 billion to the defense budget.

Per the U.S. State Department in April 2016:
Iran was designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984 and remains so-designated today.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cultivates and supports militant groups around the region… Iran provides arms, financing, and training to fighters to support the Asad regime's brutal crackdown that has resulted in the deaths of over 250,000 people in Syria.
The IRGC-QF, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Iran's Mahan Air, Hizballah, and over 100 other Iran-related individuals and entities remain subject to sanctions.

Source