Eye on Iran: U.S. Concedes $400 Million Payment to Iran Was Delayed as Prisoner 'Leverage'

Join UANI       Top Stories NYT: "The State Department conceded for the first time on Thursday that it delayed making a $400 million payment to Iran for several hours in January 'to retain maximum leverage' and ensure that three American prisoners were released the same day. For months the Obama administration had maintained that the payment was part of a settlement over an old dispute and did not amount to a 'ransom' for the release of the Americans. Instead, administration officials said, it was the first installment of the $1.7 billion that the United States intends to pay Iran to reimburse it for military equipment it bought before the Iranian revolution that the United States never delivered. But at a briefing on Thursday, John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, said the United States 'took advantage of the leverage' it felt it had that weekend in mid-January to obtain the release of the hostages and 'to make sure they got out safely and efficiently.' Republicans opposed to the nuclear deal President Obama reached with Iran have described the payment as ransom and a further sign of his administration's feckless dealings with Tehran... 'It was ransom,' said Representative Ed Royce of California, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 'We now know it was ransom. And on top of that it put more American lives at risk. And we've emboldened Iran. We've encouraged them, frankly, to take more hostages and put more American lives at risk of being taken hostage.'" http://t.uani.com/2b9dntp WashPost: "Kirby's assurance that the two negotiations were 'completely separate' is hard to square with the fact that the $400 million was contingent upon the prisoner release. While the negotiations over the prisoners and the cash might have been separate, the resolutions clearly weren't. Of course, the money was already due to Iran - at some point - for an expressly different reason than the prisoner exchange. The Obama administration announced it in January, at the same time it reached a deal on the prisoner exchange and began implementation of the nuclear deal. The proximity of those events also makes it harder to separate them. But the cash transfer wasn't news; the timing and contingency was... Thursday's revelation does indeed look bad for the administration, as did the after-the-fact revelation of the $400 million transfer made to Iran, and they both breathe life into Republicans' long-standing allegations that this was a quid pro quo in which prisoners were released in exchange for cash. There's a reason such things are avoided; they risk putting overseas Americans in danger of being held in exchange for money." http://t.uani.com/2bCEgWi LAT: "Two men squatted before a freshly dug stretch of earth in a public cemetery here as traffic buzzed by on the adjacent highway. They had just buried their 18-year-old brother, Seyyed Zia Hoseyni. His photograph poked out of a bundle of flowers. Hoseyni joined hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Afghans who were killed in Syria after enlisting in Iran's effort to bolster the embattled forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Nearly all are from Afghanistan's Hazara minority. As Shiite Muslims, they fled to Iran in hopes that it would be more hospitable than Afghanistan, where they faced religious persecution and the economic hardships of a country racked by war and terrorism. But they wound up embroiled in another war. The Iranian government has relied heavily on the Afghan immigrants, sending them to battle in greater numbers than it does Iranians in the Revolutionary Guard... Many Hazaras have few options but to enlist. Those caught sneaking across the Afghan-Iranian border are often presented with a stark choice: Go to jail and face deportation, or fight in Syria for a few months and gain legal residence in Iran... 'Iranians see the Hazara as cannon fodder,' said Hassan, a 50-year-old sheik in Qom who refused to give his full name for fear of retribution by Iranian security forces... 'If the Hazara are the Muslim Shiite brethren of Iranians,' he said, 'then why are they the least important people in the devastating civil war in Syria?'" http://t.uani.com/2bCFp0c Nuclear & Ballistic Missile Program AP: "The State Department says it can't determine who ordered several minutes of videotape deleted from a news briefing about nuclear negotiations with Iran. Spokesman John Kirby said Thursday the department also couldn't say why the tape was edited. A seven-page report says facts remained unclear after 34 interviews of current and former officials, and email searches. The report was shared with Congress. The deleted section from the Dec. 2, 2013, briefing with then-spokeswoman Jen Psaki included questions about another official's months-old denial of then-secret U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Psaki said, 'There are times where diplomacy needs privacy.'" http://t.uani.com/2bm0o8r Press TV (Iran): "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his administration pulled off the task of removing the bases for sanctions against the Islamic Republic, not just the bans themselves, by achieving a nuclear deal with six world powers. Speaking in a meeting with government officials in the southwestern Iranian city of Yasuj on Monday, President Rouhani said the administration could have reached a deal in the course of nuclear negotiations 'much sooner' but was after eliminating the bases for the sanctions, which he implied was the reason why the talks took more time... In his Monday's remarks, President Rouhani said his administration also succeeded in removing the foundations used to impose the nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, explaining that the bases for the sanctions were derived from Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, as well as the issue of the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) of the Iranian nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said some people were of the opinion that the Security Council resolutions, which had been adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, could not be removed in a single day, 'but we had them annulled in one day and before implementing the JCPOA.'" http://t.uani.com/2b30xzP Congressional Action AP: "The Obama administration is facing a storm of Republican criticism after acknowledging that a $400 million cash payment to Iran seven months ago was contingent on the release of a group of American prisoners. Thursday's explanation was the first time the U.S. had so clearly linked the two events, which critics have painted as a hostage-ransom arrangement. State Department spokesman John Kirby has said the negotiations to return the Iranian money from a 1970s account to buy U.S. military equipment were conducted separately from talks to free four U.S. citizens in Iran. But he recently noted the U.S. withheld the delivery of the cash as leverage until Iran permitted the Americans to leave the country. Kirby said Friday on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' program that the U.S. offers 'no apologies.' ... The hostage release and cash transfer occurred Jan. 17, fueling suspicions from Republican lawmakers and accusations from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump of a quid pro quo that undermined America's longstanding opposition to ransom payments. Several members of Congress immediately pounced on Thursday's shift. 'If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. If a cash payment is contingent on a hostage release, it's a ransom. The truth matters and the president owes the American people an explanation,' Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said. 'Decisions like these are putting our nation and our allies at risk,' added Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman." http://t.uani.com/2breHeG Sanctions Enforcement WSJ: "The U.S. government extended a lifting of sanctions against ZTE Corp. for the second time, as the Chinese maker of telecommunications equipment works to repair its reputation after allegedly violating U.S. trade rules. In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department said its temporary sanctions relief will be extended to Nov. 28, which allows ZTE to continue working with U.S. suppliers. As it cooperates with U.S. authorities, ZTE is trying to minimize the damage to its business and brand image from the sanctions, which were put in place in March. The U.S. Commerce Department added ZTE to its 'Entity List,' a list of foreign groups or individuals that present risks to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. The department alleged that ZTE violated rules restricting exports of U.S. technological goods to Iran." http://t.uani.com/2bCTbkh Sanctions Relief IRNA (Iran): "Iran and Norway signed an insurance memorandum of understanding (MoU) on in the field of shipping. The MoU was signed between Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL)and Norway's Skuld P&I Company on different kinds of sea insurances. The MoU also covers the complaints in relation to sea insurance, training of personnel and upgrading knowledge and capabilities of the Iranian experts." http://t.uani.com/2bLidkg Extremism AFP: "It is Iran's answer to the Academie Francaise, keeping the Farsi language safe from the corrupting influence of foreign words. Its latest, unlikely target: something called 'Nutella Bars'. The state-run Academy of Persian Language and Literature has imposed a number of changes in recent years, particularly aimed at curbing the intrusion of English. Its success has been varied. Most people now use the Farsi word 'balgard' (meaning 'spinning wings') instead of 'helicopter'. But practically no one -- except perhaps newsreaders on state television -- calls their fax machine a 'durnegar' (meaning 'distant message-receiver'), or uses 'rayaneh' ('organising machine') when they mean 'computer'. The Academy's latest target has caused some bafflement: a popular chain of waffle and crepe cafes called Nutella Bars after the Italian hazelnut and cocoa spread in which they smother their snacks. 'The authorities said the signs must change. They are very strict about it,' said a staff member at one branch, asking not to be named. To the amusement of many on social media, the Academy suggested the chain rename itself 'Hot Bread, Hot Chocolate' in Farsi." http://t.uani.com/2bsA79U Domestic Politics Reuters: "A man grabs a dog by the ears and bashes it against the side of a pickup truck in a rural area of northern Iran. As the dog tries to find shelter in the back of the truck, the man beats it with a shovel. When the video was posted online, it rocketed across social media and kicked off protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities. Several other videos showing the abuse of domestic pets, mostly dogs, have since been posted online. Public criticism has mounted and there is now a push for a law against cruelty to animals in Iran, which has no such legislation. 'We hope that if there is a law as a foundation this problem can be controlled in society,' said Javid Ale Davoud, head of the Society for Protection of Animals, a non-governmental organization. 'The government has become sensitive to this issue.' Social media has played a key role in highlighting animal abuse cases and is ramping up pressure on officials to act." http://t.uani.com/2bCDGrK Opinion & Analysis WSJ Editorial: "The Obama Administration's handling of the Iran ransom-for-hostages story brings to mind the classic Chico Marx line in the movie 'Duck Soup': 'Who are you going to believe-me or your own eyes?' After everyone in the Administration from President Obama on down denied that a $400 million cash payment to Iran had anything to do with the same-day release of four American hostages, the State Department on Thursday said your own eyes had it right the first time. While still not using the R-word, State Department spokesman John Kirby said of the two events: 'We of course wanted to seek maximum leverage in this case as these two things came together at the same time.' Credit here goes to Wall Street Journal reporters Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee, who on Aug. 3 broke the story of the $400 million payment to Iran coincident with the hostage release in January. Despite Mr. Obama himself trying to knock down the Journal's story by asserting, 'we do not pay ransom for hostages,' the reporters this week established the linkage. U.S. officials acknowledged to the Journal that they wouldn't allow a plane from Iran Air, loaded with pallets of cash, to take off from a runway in Geneva until the hostages' plane in Tehran was 'wheels up.' State's Mr. Kirby was finally obliged to admit this publicly. One may reasonably ask: Why did the Obama Administration persist with such an obviously preposterous cover story? Mr. Obama offered one honest answer amid his original denial. We didn't pay a ransom, the President said, 'precisely because if we did we'd start encouraging Americans to be targeted.' There's another reason. Mr. Obama didn't want to sully what he obviously considers the crowning foreign-policy achievement of his Presidency with an admission that a grubby payoff to Iran's mullahs is what got it done. Coming clearer by the day is the reality that Mr. Obama in fact ransomed his second term's entire foreign policy to getting the nuclear deal, which along with lifting sanctions was supposed to be the incentive for Iran to help stabilize the Middle East. Iran had its own ideas about that... Since the January 'leverage' moment, Iran has taken three more Americans as hostage and is now demanding the return of $2 billion in funds that U.S. courts have ordered held for the victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism. The eyes of the world can simply stare." http://t.uani.com/2b992q9 Charles Krauthammer in WashPost: "This week Russian bombers flew out of Iranian air bases to attack rebel positions in Syria. The State Department pretended not to be surprised. It should be. It should be alarmed. Iran's intensely nationalistic revolutionary regime had never permitted foreign forces to operate from its soil. Until now. The reordering of the Middle East is proceeding apace. Where for 40 years the U.S.-Egypt alliance anchored the region, a Russia-Iran condominium is now dictating events. That's what you get after eight years of U.S. retrenchment and withdrawal. That's what results from the nuclear deal with Iran, the evacuation of Iraq and utter U.S. immobility on Syria." http://t.uani.com/2b6kOQy         Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. 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