Obama administration says it was not a quid pro quo.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
President Obama’s administration secretly shipped $400 million in cash to Iran in January as four Americans were released from detainment. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the money was meant to serve as a way to resolve a dispute over a failed 1970s arms deal that came just before the fall of Shah Rezi Mohammed Pahlavi and the rise of the Islamic Republic. U.S. officials denied that the money was at all linked to the release of the prisoners, but Iranian negotiators also alleged that they wanted cash in order to show they had something tangible as the prisoners were released.
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