The US administration said for the first time on Thursday that its $400 million cash payment to Iran in January was used as “leverage” to gain the release of American prisoners, fueling criticism that the exchange amounted to the US paying ransom.

State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the US refused to allow Iran to take possession of the cash until a plane carrying the freed Americans had taken off from Tehran, Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

“If you’re asking me was there a connection in that regard, at the endgame, I’m not going to deny that,” Kirby said at a State Department news briefing.

“We took advantage of leverage that we felt we could have to make sure that they got out safely and efficiently,” he added.

Kirby was responding to questions about a report in The Wall Street Journal disclosing that an Iranian cargo plane was not permitted by the US to leave Geneva with $400 million in euros, Swiss francs and other currencies stacked on shipping pallets until the Americans had left Tehran. The exchange took place on Jan. 17.

Administration officials, including President Barack Obama, have said the cash payment was not ransom because the $400 million was money the US already owed Iran to settle a failed arms deal from more than three decades ago. 

Kirby said repeatedly that the payment did not amount to ransom. “We don’t pay ransom,” he said. Instead, Kirby portrayed the cash as a useful tool: “It would have been foolish, imprudent, irresponsible for us not to try to maintain maximum leverage.”

Source: MENA