(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press conference in Argentina today that a $400 million cash payment to Iran that was delivered the same day in January that Iran released five Americans it had been detaining was not ransom but was a move to “save the American taxpayers dollars.”
In part of his response to a reporter’s question about the payment, Kerry quoted from a statement President Barack Obama made back in January, when the Americans were released by Iran and the Iran nuclear deal was finalized.
As Kerry noted, Obama said then: “The United States and Iran are now settling a longstanding Iranian Government claim against the United States Government. Iran will be returned its own funds, including appropriate interest, but much less than the amount that Iran sought.”
“So,” Kerry said at his Argentina press conference, “we believe this agreement for the $400 million that was paid in interest in settlement of the case actually saved the American taxpayer potentially billions of dollars because if that case kept going and came to fruition in the court system, the adjudication could have been for significantly more money–and probably would have been–rather than have a settlement for an immediate cash payout.”
“So this is not a new story,” Kerry said. “It doesn’t represent anything the American people weren’t told by the President and by the Administration. What it does represent is a policy of common sense to get a better deal, reduce the money we would have had to pay, save the American taxpayers dollars, and do it through a completely separate track that had nothing to do with the Iran nuclear deal.”
Here is an excerpt from Kerry’s remarks as transcribed on the State Department website:
Kerry: “… But let me speak to this transfer, because I know a lot about it. Because I was, obviously, negotiating the fundamental nuclear agreement with Iran, I’m aware of what was going on–more than aware. First of all, the United States of America does not pay ransom and does not negotiate ransoms with any country. We never have and we’re not doing that now. It is not our policy. That’s number one.
“Number two, this story is not a new story. This was announced by the President of the United States himself at the very time that this transaction and the nuclear deal was being put together, and he made it clear that there was a separate negotiation track–a separate negotiation–that happened to come to be settled at the time which represents a restoration to Iran of its own money.
“Now, let me be crystal clear about this: In 1979, Iran had made arrangements for the purchase – I believe it was purchase of some weapons at the time, or airplanes. I can’t remember which, but it was a purchase. And when the revolution took place in Iran, that money was frozen. They had paid it. It was in a bank account. It’s Iranian money, and it sat in the bank account earning interest for all of these years–which, I might add, at certain points of time was an extraordinary amount of interest, because interest rates were very high back in the 19–late 1970s, early ’80s.
“Now, that money was going up into the billions, and what was negotiated was a agreement in the Hague tribunal–this is a Hague case, and it was separated by a professional career team, not by some political group or anything to do with the Iran group. We did not negotiate it. It was negotiated by a separate group on a separate track who happened to come to an agreement at a time where Iran needed money and wanted money because the banking systems were closed to Iran, as they are even today to a certain degree. They’ve had difficulty in opening accounts in certain countries.
“So we believe this agreement for the $400 million that was paid in interest in settlement of the case actually saved the American taxpayer potentially billions of dollars, because if that case kept going and came to fruition in the court system, the adjudication could have been for significantly more money – and probably would have been – rather than have a settlement for an immediate cash payout. So there was no benefit to the United States of America to drag this out. It would have worked against the interests of our taxpayers. And with the nuclear deal done, the prisoners released, the time was right to take advantage of that and resolve the dispute in the way that it was resolved.
“Now, the President at the time said the following, quote: ‘Since 1981, after our nations severed diplomatic relations, we’ve worked through an international tribunal to resolve various claims between our countries. The United States and Iran are now settling a longstanding Iranian Government claim against the United States Government, and Iran will be returned its own funds, including appropriate interest, but much less than the amount that Iran sought.’ That is what the President of the United States announced at the very time.
“So this is not a new story. It doesn’t represent anything the American people weren’t told by the President and by the Administration. What it does represent is a policy of common sense to get a better deal, reduce the money we would have had to pay, save the American taxpayers dollars, and do it through a completely separate track that had nothing to do with the Iran nuclear deal.”
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool) 
