White House: We’re Not Paying Ransom to Iran, Just Giving Them Access to Money, We Still Hold Them Accountable

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby maintained that the U.S. isn’t paying Iran a ransom in the prisoner swap with the country, it’s just allowing Iran access to funds they couldn’t access before for “discreet, targeted purposes.” And said that the Biden administration is still holding Iran accountable for its treatment of its own citizens, attacks on shipping, support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and support of terrorists.

Kirby said, “I think it’s important to remember, this is not U.S. taxpayer dollars, this is not ransom. These were Iranian funds that had been frozen in a South Korean account that they did not have access to. All we’re simply doing is moving this money to Qatar, to Qatari National Bank, so that it can be accessible to them for, again, very discreet, targeted purposes.”

Later, he added, “[T]he other thing it [is] important to remember, Andrea, is that we’re not trying to drive at some rapprochement with Iran right now. We still are holding Iran accountable for the way they’re treating their people back home, the protesters. We’re still holding them accountable for the attacks on maritime shipping, for providing drones to Russia in Ukraine, and for their support to terrorist networks throughout the region. All of this bad behavior is still going on, and we are still working very hard to hold them accountable for that as well.”

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