The Hussein Obama 'admin' sent Iran $400m as prisoners were freed.

The Hussein Obama 'admin' sent Iran $400m as prisoners were freed. (TOI).

Cash said to have been airlifted in unmarked cargo plane; administration says payment unconnected to release of prisoners.

The US government is said to have airlifted $400 million worth of cash to Iran in a secret operation that coincided with the release in January of four Iranian-American prisoners held by the Islamic Republic, including the Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian.

An Obama administration spokesman denied any link between the payment and the release of the prisoners.

According to the Wall Street Journal late Tuesday, the funds were procured from banks in Switzerland and the Netherlands and were flown in euros, Swiss francs and other currencies in an unmarked cargo plane into Iran. Since a transaction with Iran in US dollars is illegal under US law, Secretary of State John Kerry and other officials sough the help of the Dutch and the Swiss and then transferred the equivalent of the sum to their central banks.

But the Iranians have boasted of their pressure on the Americans to hand over the cash for the prisoners.

“Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies,” General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, commander of the Guard’s Basij militia, said on state media at the time. According to the Iranian news agency Tasnim, the money arrived in Iran on the same day the prisoners departed n January 17.

Congress members are now seeking to make public details of the cash deal with Iran and the $1.7 billion settlement by passing a bill that would prevent the Obama administration from making any further payments to Iran.

“President Obama’s…payment to Iran in January, which we now know will fund Iran’s military expansion, is an appalling example of executive branch governance,” said Republican Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma, who co-wrote the bill.

“Subsidizing Iran’s military is perhaps the worst use of taxpayer dollars ever by an American president,” he said. Hmmmm........ If it's an official settlement.....why sending money in unmarked planes? Read the full story here.

Related: Flashback 2016. Obama Admin Paid Iran $1.7 Billion From Taxpayer Funds

Under the terms of the settlement, Iran will be paid a $400 million balance, plus an additional $1.3 billion in interest from the taxpayer fund, according to a State Department official.

A senior Iranian military commander said Wednesday that the cash settlement was reached as a perk to motivate Iranian authorities to free the imprisoned Americans, who were released over the weekend.