Vocal Europe: Iranian Leadership Holding the World to Ransom
by Struan Stevenson
The revelation that the Obama administration paid Iran a ransom of almost half a billion dollars in cash for the release of 5 American hostages has caused shockwaves around the world. Despite repeated denials by the White House that this was a ransom, Iranian Brigadier General Reza Naqdi told the Fars News agency, a mouthpiece of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), that: “This money was returned for the freedom of the U.S. spies and it was not related to the [nuclear] negotiations.” The five Americans included a Christian pastor, a former US-marine and a Washington Post journalist. Some of the hostages had duel US/Iranian citizenship.
