And Google's, using his own manipulatively, misinformative words, AI Overview
The U.S. government, under the Obama administration, transferred $1.7 billion to Iran in 2016 as a settlement of a long-standing financial dispute at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, not "several hundred billion". The settlement included $400 million in frozen assets from an unfulfilled 1970s arms deal plus $1.3 billion in accrued interest.
Here are the details regarding the payment:
* Congressional Approval: The administration did not seek specific congressional approval for the settlement itself, as it was a resolution through the existing Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, an international arbitration body. This led to criticism from some members of Congress who felt they were bypassed and demanded oversight after the fact.
* Why Cash:U.S. sanctions at the time prevented the use of the U.S. financial system for transactions with Iran. As a result, the payment was made in cash using non-U.S. currency (specifically, Swiss francs, euros, and other foreign currencies) procured from central banks in the Netherlands and Switzerland, as this was the only viable way to transfer a large sum of money to Iran at the time.
* Purpose: The payment was the result of a decades-old legal case, not an direct payment for the Obamas. It resolved a claim dating back to before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the Shah of Iran's government paid the U.S. for military equipment that was never delivered after sanctions were imposed.
* Hostage Release Link: The first $400 million cash installment was delivered on the same day in January 2016 that Iran released four American prisoners. While U.S. officials maintained the negotiations for the settlement and the prisoner release were separate, the State Department later acknowledged that the U.S. delayed the cash delivery to ensure the Americans had left Tehran, using the payment as leverage. This timing led critics to label it a "ransom" payment
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