A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday criticized a $1.7-billion payment the Obama administration made to Iran earlier this year, suggesting that the administration ignored a law that prohibits such payments to Iran until claims against the country from American victims of terror had been “dealt with to the satisfaction of the United States.”

“Those victims of terrorism who have outstanding claims and have not been satisfied in the case of Iran were cheated out of the opportunity,” New Jersey senator Bob Menendez said during a Senate Banking subcommittee hearing on the $1.7 billion payment, which represents a settlement for a decades-old arms deal gone awry.