Kaine defends Iran payment, Clinton emails
By Patrick Temple-West
08/07/16 09:49 AM EDT
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine defended the Obama administration’s $400 million delivery to Iran earlier this year amid allegations the payment was a ransom in return for American hostages.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported $400 million was sent in January as the first installment of the White House's $1.7 billion settlement with Iran over a failed arms deal signed with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi shortly before he was deposed in the 1979 revolution. Republicans have alleged that the money was effectively a ransom payment. President Barack Obama has said the timing of the payment so close to the hostages’ release was purely coincidental.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Kaine continued the president’s line of defense.
“There was a legitimate claim against the United States,” Kaine said. “The United States bargained it down to a fraction. We're making claims in international tribunals, and we're having claims made against us all the time.”
more
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/kaine-defends-iran-payment-clinton-emails-226764
