US Payments to Iran: Fact-Checking Obama and Biden's Cash Transfers Amid Middle East Tensions
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The conflict in the Middle East has seen a wave of misinformation spread on social media, with US citizens being subjected to many false claims, especially around how administrations before Donald Trump dealt with Iran.
One claim that has gained pace concerns the payments that the administrations of Joe Biden and Barack Obama released to Iran.
While the payments were indeed made, amounting to $17.6 million combined, the contexts in which they were made are important.
Barack Obama transferred $1.7 billion in cash to Iran in 2016 as part of a settlement for a failed pre-1979 arms deal.
The payment was made in two parts: an initial $400 million delivered by plane on January 17, 2016, coinciding with the release of American prisoners, and the remaining $1.3 billion, which was the estimated interest that the Iranian cash held by Iran accumulated since the 1970s.
The Biden administration approved waivers enabling Iran access to about $10 billion from Iraqi electricity payments held in escrow and unfroze $6 billion in a Qatar-held account tied to a hostage deal.
Combined, the Biden administration and the Obama administration made $17.7 billion in funds available to Iran.
