Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), in a Senate Banking Subcommittee hearing this morning, pressed experts for answers on the transfer of $1.7 billion in cash to Iran.
During the hearing, Sen. Toomey directed his first question to Dr. Susanne Maloney of the Brookings Institute's Center for Middle East Policy, Energy Security and Climate Initiative. He asked:
Sen. Toomey: "Is it your view that if that unmarked cargo plane carrying pallets of stacked cash had never landed at its destination, that the Americans would nevertheless been released at that time by the Iranians? Is it just a coincidence?"
Dr. Maloney: "I don't believe it's a coincidence. I believe in fact that the timing of three rounds of diplomacy... was deliberately converged to try to expedite the sale of American priorities that were attendant in all."
Sen. Toomey: "So if the cash had not landed, the Americans would not have been released? But we should not understand that to be a ransom payment? That's interesting."
You can watch Sen. Toomey's full remarks here.
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