- Title: Kerry defends Iran payment
- Date: 4th August 2016
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (AUGUST 4, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY AT A NEWS CONFERENCE IN PALACIO SAN MARTIN, THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY SAYING: "First of all, the United States of America does not pay ransom, and does not negotiate ransoms with any
- Embargoed: 19th August 2016 17:37
- Keywords: Kerry Iran installment payment
- Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
- City: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
- Country: USA
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0014TPOGUF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday (August 4) defended the Obama administration's payment of $400 million in cash to Iran, denying it was a ransom for the release of American prisoners by Tehran or tied to the Iran nuclear deal.
"The United States does not pay ransoms," Kerry told a news conference in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
He said the payment, which was part of a longstanding Iranian claim at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in The Hague, was negotiated on a separate track from the Iran nuclear deal.
The White House announced on Jan. 17, a day after the prisoner exchange, it was releasing $400 million in funds frozen since 1981, plus $1.3 billion in interest owed to Iran. The remaining interest has since been fully paid from the U.S. Treasury-administered Judgment Fund, according to a U.S. official.
The funds were part of a trust fund Iran used before its 1979 Islamic Revolution to buy U.S. military equipment that was tied up for decades in litigation at the tribunal.
"1979, Iran had made arrangements for the purchase, I believe it was the purchase of some weapons at the time, or airplanes, I can't remember which, it was a purchase. And when the revolution took place in Iran, that money was frozen. They had paid us. They had a bank account. It was Iranian money. And it sat in the bank account, earning interest for all of these years, which I might add, at certain points in time, was an extraordinary amount of interest," Kerry said.
"So, we believe that this agreement for the $400 million that was paid in interest and settlement case, actually saved the American taxpayer potentially billions of dollars." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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