It has taken some time but the State Department has made an announcement. No deal has been made with the Iranians as it relates to prison release. Department spokesman Ned Price has now responded and his remarks are telling. “Reports that a prisoner swap deal has been reached are not true,” said Price. “As we have said, we always raise the cases of Americans detained or missing in Iran. We will not stop until we are able to reunite them with their families.”
Those who remember past statements from Price know that he has a tendency to bend the truth. He’s been caught lying before but if we had to guess? This one sounds pretty solid. It’s a curious denial, for sure. At first, he says that the reports are not true but then he continues.
Price goes on to say that they always raise the case of Americans who are being detained in the nation of Iran. This is where we start to lose him. If there is no negotiation going on, who are the cases being raised with? That’s the question that we need answered. We believe that there is far more going on here than meets the eye.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was preparing to give an “important speech” to his citizens when some surprising news came to the forefront. Right at this moment, an unnamed Iranian official claimed that a deal had been made. Supposedly, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom were closely involved.
The deal is said to have hinged upon the release of billions of Iranian dollars that have been locked away due to sanctions. In addition to these terms, the United States would also release four Iranians that were involved in the aforementioned sanctions. Iran’s half of the exchange is a simple one: one British woman and four Americans who are currently imprisoned there would also be released.
It is important to note that the story is not confirmed as of yet. There are a number of reasons why we doubt what is taking place here. In the meantime, the Associated Press has more about this developing story:
“Iran will free prisoners with Western ties in Iran in exchange for billions of dollars from the United States and the United Kingdom, state television reported Sunday. The U.S. and the U.K. did not immediately acknowledge any swap.
The state TV report quoted an anonymous official just as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began giving what authorities earlier described as an “important” speech. However, Khamenei did not immediately discuss any proposed swap amid negotiations in Vienna over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers.
The official quoted by Iranian state TV said a deal made between the U.S. and Tehran involved a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of $7 billion in frozen Iranian funds.”
Of course, neither of these governments was willing to offer up a statement. This can be taken in a number of ways, though. The countries could be silent because there is no deal in place. They can also remain silent because they are worried about the public perception if it were allowed to be considered as truth.
Joe Biden and his team are playing things close to the vest but we still find this suspicious. We highly doubt that this is the type of deal that Biden wants to make because of the negative headlines that are sure to be generated. The “pallets of cash” that went to this country during the Obama administration? These stories have not been lost on anyone, that much is for sure.
The embarrassment that Biden and Obama experienced after that story came out is not something that Joe should want to relive. Even if this deal is being sold to the American public as part of a nuclear agreement, we cannot imagine that it would be very well received. Once we get an update from the Biden White House, we will be happy to pass it along.
