At the same time that four detained Americans were released by Tehran in January, the Obama administration sent $400 million cash in an unmarked plane to Iran, according to a published report by The Wall Street Journal.
The money, stacked atop wooden pallets, consisted of euros, Swiss francs, and other international currencies from the central banks of Switzerland and the Netherlands, as it is illegal for the U.S. to do any monetary transaction with Iran in US dollars.
U.S and European officials who were briefed on the operation said the payout was the first payment of $1.7 billion owed by the U.S. to Iran for a failed arms deal that was signed before the 1979 fall of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, according to the Aug. 2 article.
The Obama administration has denied claims that the $400 million were in exchange for the four detainees, insisting it was to lessen the load of the large financial obligation. The release of the prisoners and shipment of money was purely coincidental, according to White House officials.
“As we’ve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim … were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told the Journal.
