The Hill, August 23, 2016 – Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is demanding Secretary of State John Kerry hand over details on a $400 million payment to Iran that GOP lawmakers have called a ‘ransom’ paid for the release of U.S. hostages.
The Missouri Republican, who is the vice chairman of the Senate GOP conference, sent a letter to Kerry on Monday asking for quarterly financial records for the foreign military sales account at the center of a decades-old arms sale dispute between the U.S. and Iranian governments.
Blunt said that the funds from the foreign military sales account should have been used to compensate American victims of Iranian-supported terrorism.
He added that once he’s reviewed the quarterly statements, he would like to discuss them and the larger $1.7 billion settlement reached with Tehran in a classified briefing. The $1.7 billion includes the $400 million from the fund, as well as a separate $1.3 billion in interest.
Republicans have seized on the details of the $400 million payment — including that it was made in cash and coincided with the release of U.S. citizens being held in Iran in January — to argue that it was a ransom that potentially violated U.S. sanctions and could be used to help support terrorism.
Though the State Department said last week that Tehran didn’t receive the money until after the hostages had been released, the Obama administration maintains that the two issues, as well as the landmark nuclear agreement reached last summer, were negotiated separately.