The US government confirmed on Thursday it initially withheld a $400m cash payment to Iran in January to maintain leverage over the release of American prisoners.
A spokesman for the state department insisted the payment eventually made in August was not a ransom, and that negotiations over the release of four US prisoners were conducted separately from the settlement of a decades-old account pertaining to a failed arms deal with Iran.
The new statement followed a report in the Wall Street Journal stating that the delivery of the cash was contingent upon the American prisoners being freed. The events, which occurred in January, have recently been seized upon by Republicans as evidence that the Obama administration made a ransom payment to Iran in order to secure their release.
“What the State Department admitted today was the dictionary definition of a ransom payment and a complete contradiction of what they were saying just two weeks ago. Hillary Clinton’s support for this dangerous blunder, which has put a price on the head of every American citizen, shows once again she does not have the judgement to be president,” RNC spokesperson Michael Short said in a statement.
The White House has virulently disputed the characterization, pointing out that the transfer was announced in January.
“It wasn’t a secret. We were completely open with everybody about it,” Barack Obama said at a press conference earlier in August.
“We do not pay ransom. We didn’t here, and we won’t in the future.”
Republicans have sought to capitalize on recent reports detailing the transaction to undermine the nuclear accord with Iran, to which they remain vehemently opposed. Critics have suggested that the money will be funneled to terrorist groups.
The Obama administration has explained that the payment was delivered in a foreign currency because US sanctions restrict the government from dealing with Iran in dollars. There is also a prohibition on banking between the two countries.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has also taken advantage of the reports as fodder against Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and his Democratic opponent. Clinton played a significant role in initiating early negotiations around the Iran nuclear deal.
There has been no evidence, however, to contradict the administration’s claim that the $400m payment was not the result of the longstanding tribunal at the Hague surrounding arm sales as part of an agreement drawn up prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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