$1.7 Billion in Apparent Ransom Payment to Iran

Americans are advised to take extra caution when traveling abroad. It appears Hanoi John Kerry has just placed a price on our heads by paying a massive ransom to the terrorist regime in Iran for four kidnapped Americans:

A powerful U.S. lawmaker on Wednesday demanded Secretary of State John Kerry provide an explanation of a $1.7 billion claim settlement paid to Iran just as Tehran released American prisoners last month.

Republican Ed Royce, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote that the timing of the settlement and the administration’s failure to brief Congress “has led some to express concern that the payment represents a de facto ‘ransom’ for the release of American hostages.”

No no no, it wasn’t ransom; it was mostly “interest.”

On Jan. 17, the State Department said the United States and Iran had settled a longstanding claim at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, releasing to Tehran $400 million in funds frozen since 1981 plus $1.3 billion in interest.

Rather than paying a ransom, Obama/Kerry could have included release of the imprisoned Americans as part of the deal granting Iran a pathway to nuclear weapons. But negotiating skills are not their strong suit.

With this kind of money involved, kidnapping Americans is likely to come into vogue.

Hat tip: The Hemingway Report.