Senate

GOP senator to hold Iran payment hearing

by Jordain Carney - 08/22/16 11:05 AM ET

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is pledging to dig into the Obama administration’s $400 million payment to Iran, which many have called a ransom for four American prisoners.

Kirk, who chairs the Banking Committee’s subcommittee on national security, said he would hold a hearing in September to probe if any of the money is going toward Tehran-supported terrorism.

{mosads}”The American people have a right to know if any U.S. taxpayer money sent to Iran is going to finance the new ‘Shi’ite Liberation Army,’ Hezbollah or Hamas terrorists targeting our allies in Israel, or any other Iranian terrorist activities,” Kirk said in a statement late Sunday night.

Though the money was part of a larger $1.7 billion settlement of a decades-old arms dispute, Republicans have seized on the fact that it was made in cash and coincided with the release of prisoners to argue it was a “ransom payment.” Kirk told the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., that President Obama was “acting like the drug dealer in chief.”

GOP Senate campaigns, as well as Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, are also hoping to make the payment a campaign issue by linking it to the separate nuclear deal. Under the agreement, Iran accepted limits on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Kirk’s Senate campaign said earlier this month that Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), whom he will face in November, should be “demanding answers on questionable policies and actions” and questioned if she could guarantee the money wouldn’t help terrorist groups.

Kirk added in his statement that the Obama administration had “reversed seven months of fierce denial” that the $400 million wasn’t linked to the hostages after State Department spokesman John Kirby said the money wasn’t handed over until after the Americans were released.

Kirby, who maintained that talks about the prisoners and the settlement were conducted separately, said the administration “retained maximum leverage until the Americans were released.”

Tags Mark Kirk