The Obama administration is acknowledging its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier in 2016 was made entirely in cash using non-US currency as Republican critics of the transaction continued to denounce the payments.
Treasury department spokeswoman Dawn Selak said in a statement late Tuesday that the cash payments were necessary because of the “effectiveness of US and international sanctions”, which isolated Iran from the international finance system.
The $1.7 billion was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the US and Iran. An initial $400 million of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency was delivered on pallets January 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners.
The Obama administration had claimed the events were separate, but recently acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave Iran. The remaining $1.3 billion represented estimated interest on the Iranian cash the US had held since the 1970s. The administration had previously declined to say if the interest was delivered to Iran in physical cash, as with the principal, or via a more regular banking mechanism.
Earlier Tuesday, officials from the state, justice and treasury departments held a closed-door briefing for congressional staff on the payments, according to a Capitol Hill aide familiar with the session. The officials said the $1.3 billion was paid in cash on January 22 and February 5. The aide was not authorised to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
The money came from a little-known fund administered by the treasury department for settling litigation claims. The so-called judgment fund is taxpayer money.
