Iran obstructed the release of five American prisoners hours before they were set to fly out of Tehran, CNN reported on Friday.
The Biden administration brokered an agreement with Iran to transfer $6 billion in previously frozen assets and five Iranian nationals in exchange for the release of five American prisoners, who flew back to the U.S. on Tuesday. Their release was obstructed and delayed hours before their flight out of Tehran by Iranian officials who wanted more concessions from the U.S., according to U.S. officials who anonymously spoke to CNN. (RELATED: Iran To Spend Biden Admin Payment ‘Wherever’ They Need, Despite White House Assurances)
“Each hour there was something new that the Iranians were trying to stall with or just be difficult for the sake of being difficult,” one official anonymously told CNN.
“They’re always just trying to throw sand in the gears, always trying to negotiate and try to get more and more,” the official said. “We’ve taken a very firm line and a very principled position.”
Despite Biden admin officials originally saying the $6 billion transfer to Iran can only be used for humanitarian aid, the country’s president is now saying they’ll use it “wherever [they] need it.”
Via @DailyCaller https://t.co/RZmQ0oNeRE— Jake Smith (@JakeSmith2212) September 12, 2023
“Though Iran attempted to make the final steps of this process challenging, we firmly stood our ground and based on principled diplomacy and overcame all hurdles to achieve this important outcome,” a State Department spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Iran remains an adversary and a state sponsor of terrorism.”
The $6 billion in assets were delivered Monday to banks located in Qatar, the country that will deal out the funds to Iran. But Iranian officials said they “couldn’t find the head of the Central Bank to sign some letter that they had to transmit throughout their interagency to then authorize people to let [the five Americans] leave the hotel and go to the airport,” according to a State Department official who spoke to CNN.
After the funds’ arrival was eventually confirmed, Iran continued to hold up the release of the prisoners in the hope of securing more concessions, according to CNN. Iranian officials insisted that the American prisoners and diplomats join them for lunch before their departure, posing further delays to an already tedious process.
Qatari officials helping negotiate the release cleverly avoided the delay by insisting everyone eat lunch together on the plane ride instead, according to CNN. The diplomats and five Americans then successfully flew out of Tehran en route to Doha before returning to the U.S. on Tuesday.
Though the return of the Americans was a celebrated moment, lawmakers fear that the concessions made by the Biden administration to broker the deal will embolden Iran to act more aggressively toward the U.S. Foreign policy experts previously told the U.S. that the deal underscores the Biden administration’s concessionary relationship with Iran.
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