State Department Returned Iranian 'Artifacts' and $1.7 Billion in Backroom Deal

I suggest you not read this story until your meal is fully digested.

The Obama administration has been secretly returning artifacts in the possession of the U.S. back to Iran as part of a general “detente” with the terrorist regime. They also transferred nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money to Tehran and are discussing more as part of a settlement dealing with Iran’s claims. The information is contained in a letter from a State Department official obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

There is absolutely no word on any U.S. claims regarding the appropriation of U.S. property, including our embassy, or damages paid to American diplomatic hostages for being held more than a year as prisoners.

Obama administration officials engaged in secret talks with Iran between June 2014 through at least January 2015 over a series of legal claims leveled against the United States by the Islamic Republic, the State Department disclosed in its letter.

“These discussions led to the settlement of claims for architectural drawings, which are now in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and for fossils, which are now in the possession of Iran’s Ministry of the Environment, and the parties also discussed the possibility of broader settlements,” the State Department wrote, in response to an inquiry launched in January by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.).

The Obama administration is seeking further settlements with Tehran to transfer assets, according to the State Department.

The administration’s latest admission about the backroom dealings with Iran were offered in response to a broader inquiry launched by Pompeo, who is seeking further information about the Obama administration’s payment of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to Iran, which many viewed as a “ransom payment” for Iran’s release of several U.S. hostages in January.

The administration’s official response to Pompeo was sent earlier this week, just days after a Free Beacon report detailing a months-long State Department effort to stall the lawmaker’s inquiry.

“After nearly two months of stalling, the State Department confirmed what I feared was true: the Obama administration is negotiating behind closed doors with the Islamic Republic of Iran and using taxpayer dollars to pay the regime,” Pompeo said in a statement on the letter. “Worse yet, more of these payments are likely coming.”

“Secretary Kerry still refuses to answer whether the $1.7 billion U.S. payment to Iran was related to the release of American hostages held by Iran,” Pompeo continued. “While we celebrate the return of these hostages, this administration could be setting a dangerous precedent, as innocent Americans continue to be held in Iran. I will not stop until we have all of the answers and will do all in my power to stop the Obama administration’s dangerous Iran policy.”

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised at this nauseating groveling by the Obama administration. The Iranians kidnapped our diplomats, trashed the embassy and turned it into a museum, and financed terrorist attacks against the U.S., including the bombing of our Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. Meanwhile, Obama genuflects before the mullahs and unilaterally parts with cash and artifacts.

I don’t think even Hillary Clinton would stoop so low. She, at least, has a far more realistic view of Iran and doesn’t see them as the benign holy men that Obama sees. But the damage done is irreparable. We are trapped by a treaty that is impossible to police and by the time anyone gets into office that could alter it, most of Iran’s frozen assets will have been returned.