Iran May Have Received as Much as $33.6 Billion in Cash, Gold Payments From U.S.

[Valin]

Washington Free Beacon:

New questions emerge on several billions paid out to Iran by Obama admin

Adam Kredo

September 8, 2016

 

Iran may have received an additional $33.6 billion in secret cash and gold payments facilitated by the Obama administration between 2014 and 2016, according to testimony provided before Congress by an expert on last summer’s nuclear agreement with Iran.

 

Between January 2014 and July 2015, when the Obama administration was hammering out the final details of the nuclear accord, Iran was paid $700 million every month from funds that had previously been frozen by U.S. sanctions.

 

A total of $11.9 billion was ultimately paid to Iran, but the details surrounding these payments remain shrouded in mystery, according to Mark Dubowitz, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

 

In total, “Iran may have received as much as $33.6 billion in cash or in gold and other precious metals,” Dubowitz disclosed.

 

(Snip)

 

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[Valin]

Fueling Terror: The Dangers of Ransom Payments to Iran
My Testimony for the House Financial Services Committee
Mark Dubowitz
Sept. 8 2016

Introduction:

This summer marked the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This deal is fatally flawed in that it provides the Islamic Republic of Iran with a patient pathway to nuclear weapons capability by placing limited, temporary, and reversible constraints on Iran’s nuclear activities. These nuclear “sunset provisions,” which will begin to expire in seven years and mostly disappear over a period of ten to fifteen years, leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power with an industrial-size uranium enrichment and plutonium program, near-zero nuclear breakout capacity, an advanced centrifuge-powered clandestine sneakout capability, advanced ballistic missile and ICBM programs, access to advanced heavy weaponry, greater regional hegemony, and a more powerful economy that could be immune to Western sanctions. Even as Iran temporarily scales back some of its nuclear activities under the JCPOA, the regime’s illicit efforts to obtain proliferation-related technology continues while its other non-nuclear malign activities are expanding.

The deal — as well as the interim agreement known as the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) — provided Iran with substantial economic relief that helped the regime avoid a severe economic crisis and return to a modest recovery path. The lifting of restrictions on Iran’s use of frozen overseas assets as part of the interim agreement returned about $11.9 billion to Iran. The final agreement provided Tehran with access to a further $100 billion, including over $50 billion in unencumbered, liquid cash, according to the Obama administration. These funds gave Tehran badly needed hard currency to settle its outstanding debts, begin to repair its economy, build up its diminished foreign exchange reserves, and ease a budgetary crisis, as well as providing the regime greater resources for the financing of terrorism and other illicit activities.

The nuclear deal did nothing to address the full range of Iran’s malign activities, including ballistic missile development, support for terrorism, regional destabilization, and human rights abuses. Iran also still owes American terrorism victims and their families more than $55 billion in unpaid, outstanding damages awarded by American courts. The weakening of missile language in the key UN Security Council Resolution, the lifting of a conventional arms embargo in four years, and lifting the missile embargo in seven years severely undermines international efforts to combat Iran’s illicit activities.

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

More here:

 

http://www.therightreasons.net/index.php?/topic/75320-iran-may-have-received-as-much-as-336-billion-in-cash-gold-payments-from-us/

[Geee]

WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE WE “OWED” IRAN THE MONEY WE PAID?

 

The Obama administrations and others wishing to defend the president’s decision to hand over $400 million in cash to Iran on Jan. 17 and $1.3 billion more in cash in two subsequent shipments insist that the payment was not a ransom. It was, instead, a payment of money the U.S. “owed” Iran, they say. Indeed, we got a bargain because the money settled a claim that was worth substantially more, given the interest we “owed.”

 

The notion that we owed Iran is based on the fact that Iran had a court claim against the U.S. But the court claim was contested, and a contested court claim is not a debt.

 

If the Obama administration believed that the U.S. owed Iran money, it should have paid the debt years ago. It didn’t. Not only did the U.S. contest Iran’s claim, we asserted counterclaims.

 

What the Obama administration is really saying is that the U.S. was destined to lose to Iran in court. But even if this were true, why not play out the proceedings?

 

Obama contends that Iran likely will moderate its behavior over the years thanks to the good will generated by the nuclear deal. If he actually believes this, why not wait a few years before giving them vast amount of money, some of which, in the regime’s present state of mind, almost surely will used to support the Assad regime and Hezbollah? And why give the money in cash?

 

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/09/wheres-the-evidence-that-we-owed-iran-the-money-we-paid.php

[Geee]

CONGRESS SUSPECTS OBAMA ADMIN DELIVERED BILLIONS IN CASH TO IRANIAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS

 

New admissions by the Obama administration that American officials physically handed some $1.7 billion in cash to the Iranian government are fueling a congressional investigation into still-hidden details surrounding the deal, according to congressional sources and previously unreported-on letters seen by the Washington Free Beacon.

 

Lawmakers now suspect the Obama administration may have dealt with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and officials from its intelligence ministry when carrying out the cash exchange, which coincided with the release by Iran of several U.S. hostages.

 

The Obama administration recently disclosed to Congress that U.S. officials participated in the handoff of at least $400 million to Iranian officials, but has withheld key details about which parts of the Iranian government assumed control of the cash, according to discussions with multiple sources familiar with ongoing congressional investigation.

 

http://freebeacon.com/

[clearvision]

At this point what does it matter?

[Geee]

At this point what does it matter?

 

You mean "At this point WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?" HRC

 

Edited to add: This answer applies to all difficult questions, including my health - HRC