President Donald Trump excoriated his predecessor Tuesday, castigating the transfer of funds during the Obama administration to the Iranian government, writing that the money never benefited the Iranian people, and was instead funneled to terrorist organizations.
In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, President Trump again praised anti-government Iranian protests who have taken to the streets since Thursday to protest government corruption and the country’s high unemployment rates.
“The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their ‘pockets.’ The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!” […]
In 2016, the Obama administration came under fire following revelations that in January of that year, the US had transferred some $400 million in cash to Iran at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport. The payment took place the same day — January 17th — as the release of five Americans who had been held by the Iranian regime.
Defenders of the payment claimed the transfer was not a ransom payment to secure the prisoners’ release, but instead was part of a long-running dispute between the US and Tehran regarding a canceled weapons procurement deal from the 1970s. While the Shah had made a $400 million down payment on the deal prior to his overthrow in 1979, the US had refused to give the money to the fundamentalist Islamic republic which toppled the Shah’s government after the deal was scrapped.
The Obama administration later paid an additional $1.3 billion to Iran — money it claimed was interest from the $400 million held by the US from 1979 to 2016. …
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
