Legislation that prohibits future cash payments to Iran passed the House on Thursday. The White House has pledged to veto the legislation, however, saying it would “undermine U.S. obligations and ultimately benefit Iran at the expense of the United States.”
The Prohibiting Future Ransom Payments to Iran Act, spearheaded by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, was crafted in response to a $400 million cash payment the U.S. sent to Iran in January around the time that the country released American hostages.
Administration officials have rejected criticism that the payment was for ransom, instead calling the cash transfer “leverage,” and have underscored that the $400 million was the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement for a decades-old arms deal with Iran that went awry after the Islamic Revolution.
“We now know that the [Obama] administration misled the public about the details of its arrangement with the Iranian regime,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said during a press briefing. “First there was a payment, but it had nothing to do with the hostages. Then it did have to do the hostages, but it wasn’t a ransom. Then the president said we couldn’t have wired the money, but all now know it turns out we could have wired the money.”
“The administration is not just circumventing the parameters of the agreement—it is pushing legal and ethical boundaries to appease the regime,” he continued.
Critics have also taken issue with the cash component of the payment, arguing that the administration caved to Iranian demands for hard currency, which could be more easily used for terrorism.
Officials, including President Obama, have said that the U.S. had to pay the money in cash because “we do not have a banking relationship with Iran.”
“We couldn’t send them a check and we could not wire the money,” Obama said in August.
Another piece of Iran related legislation, the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act, passed the House on Wednesday, also under threat of veto. The legislation would force disclosure of assets held by Iranian leaders.
