Wiring of disputed money to Tehran coincided with departure of plane carrying 3 Americans

 Wall Street Journal, Jan. 21, 2016 – A deal that sent $1.7 billion in U.S. funds to Iran, announced alongside the freeing of five Americans from Iranian jails, has emerged as a new flashpoint amid a claim in Tehran that the transaction amounted to a ransom payment.
The U.S. Treasury Department wired the money to Iran around the same time its theocratic government allowed three American prisoners to fly out of Tehran on Sunday aboard a Dassault Falcon jet owned by the Swiss air force.
The prisoner swap also involved freedom for two other Americans held in Iran as well as for seven Iranians charged or convicted by the U.S.
But the transaction is stirring a debate here over whether the funds were essentially a ransom paid to Iran’s leadership.
A senior Iranian military official has publicly stated that the clearing of the $1.7 billion was a key factor in Tehran’s decision to release the imprisoned Americans, most of whom were charged with espionage.
“Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies and doesn’t have to do with the [nuclear] talks,” said Gen. Mohammad Reza-Naghdi, commander of Iran’s powerful Basij militia, in state media on Wednesday. “The way to take our rights back from the arrogants [Americans] is to become powerful, and we must grow stronger and stronger every day.”
Iranian government spokesmen in Tehran and New York didn’t respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
But Republican lawmakers are calling for an inquiry. They’ve also criticized what they said was an imbalance in the prisoner exchange: The White House freed seven Iranians and dropped extradition proceedings against another 14 in exchange for the five Americans.
“There’s no way the recent events occurred randomly,” said Rep. Mike Pompeo (R. Kan.), who wrote Secretary of State John Kerry this week to ask about the payment. “We will do our best to find out if this was in our interest.”
U.S. officials said the $1.7 billion came from a permanent Treasury Department fund established to cover court judgments and settlements.
But some lawmakers also are questioning why the White House didn’t use the $1.7 billion to compensate U.S. terror victims. Iran has lost numerous court cases in the U.S. tied to terror attacks Tehran allegedly supported.
The settlement talks dovetailed with the secret talks being pursued by the U.S. and Iran to secure the release of their prisoners.
One person said Mr. McGurk was involved as early as Christmas in helping to complete the payment. Mr. Kerry announced the agreement on Sunday, almost at the same time as the Americans were released.
The State Department declined to comment on the roles Messrs. Kerry and McGurk played in resolving the financial dispute.
U.S. lawmakers welcomed the freeing of the Americans last weekend. But a number of Republicans, including the speaker of the House, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, were quick to raise concerns that a ransom had been paid.
John Bellinger, who served as chief legal counsel in the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, wrote this week that just the timing raised the perception that the U.S. was willing to pay ransom.
He wrote on the website Lawfare Monday. “If the two actions were not linked, the administration should not have announced the Claims Tribunal settlement on the same day the Americans were released.”