[Hot Air] It has been a tough month for spokespeople at the State Department. During the daily press briefing today State Department spokesman Mark Toner was unable to answer basic questions about the timing or details of a $1.3 billion payment to Iran despite the fact that the payment appears to be listed on a government website available to the public.
The settlement the U.S. agreed to pay Iran (over an old arms deal) was broken into two parts, a $400 million principal payment and $1.3 billion in interest. The delivery of the $400 million principal repayment was made in foreign cash on January 17 of this year. We’ve since learned that payment was made contingent on the release of U.S. prisoners in Iran. President Obama said it was necessary to make the payment in cash because the U.S. did not have a banking relationship with Iran that would allow us to wire the money directly.
Monday the Weekly Standard highlighted a significant development in the story at the New York Sun. The Sun’s Claudia Rosett found the remaining $1.3 billion in interest was apparently paid from something called the Judgment Fund in a series of 13 identical payments: |