Fact Check: Did the US Under Obama Give Iran $150 Billion?

 Did Obama pay a ransom to Iran for our captured sailors? - American Thinker

 The payment of ransom will only encourage future kidnappings by the Iranians. Beyond that, the mocking, sneering rhetoric from Tehran toward the United States and our weakness in the face of aggression shows that our [groveling] response has emboldened the Iranians.  

US Navy under Democrat command

2016 U.S.–Iran naval incident - Wikipedia  "Follow up all links for more details on the ransom and the actions of those Democrats in a crisis."  Then Democrats were intimidated; in 2026 one has to see them as allies of any enemies of Israel and the United States. TD

. . . "One day after Iran released the 10 sailors they had abducted for straying into Iranian territorial waters, the administration released $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars to Iran. The money was part of a settlement of a decades old legal claim by Iran and came from a special fund that the executive department can tap to pay claims against the US.

"Or was it a ransom paid for the kidnapped sailors?

"The administration insists the timing of the released funds is coincidental. But legislation introduced in Congress now seeks to discover the truth of the matter." . . .

Congressman: Classified Details of Iran’s Treatment of U.S. Sailors Will Shock Nation

 "Forbes suggested that Iran’s treatment of the U.S. sailors—which included filming them crying and forcing them to apologize at gunpoint—may have been much worse than what has been publicly reported."

 Pictured: US Navy mocked at Iran parade:

 Newsweek, 2023 "Relations between the U.S. and Iran worsened this week as Iran's foreign minister said the United States would suffer "heavy losses" if the Israel-Hamas conflict expanded.

"As tensions simmer, conservative commentators shared claims that President Barack Obama's administration had given $150 billion to Iran, effectively, they argued, funding Hamas.

"The Claim"

"A post on X by Jack Posobiec, posted on October 16, 2023, referenced a Charlie Kirk tweet from September 11, 2015, which stated "Iran funds Hamas. Hamas kills Americans and Jews. Now we give Iran $150 billion. Where do you think that money will go? #IranDeal"

"Posobiec wrote "Charlie warned us and now people are mad at him."

The Facts: 

Kirk, founder of conservative student group Turning Point USA, was likely referring to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which granted Iran access to frozen assets." . . .

False.  The U.S. did not "give" $150 billion to Iran in 2015. In 2015, as part of an international deal with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran agreed to cut back on nuclear enrichment programs in exchange for the unfreezing of its own assets.The U.S. taxpayer paid nothing toward this, as might be implied by the post, and the value of the assets was said by some, including the U.S. Treasury, to be less than $150 billion. FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team" . . .

In another incident: Obama administration acknowledges $1.7B transfer to Iran was all cash - CBS News:   2016-- The Obama administration is acknowledging its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier this year was made entirely in cash, using non-U.S. currency.

"A Treasury spokeswoman says the cash payments were necessary because of the “effectiveness of U.S. 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 U.S. and Iran. 

"An initial $400 million cash delivery was sent Jan. 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" . . .

Politifact:  2016, PolitiFact | Fact-check: Handel claims Obama flew $2 billion to Iran, admitted it is being used to fund terrorism