Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer are two of six American hostages currently languishing in Iran. The two were just sentenced to 10 years in prison this week. Iran is willing to release them on one condition - they want more money from the U.S. government.
Iran is seeking “many billions of dollars” in payments from the United States in exchange for the release of several U.S. hostages still being detained in Iran, according to reports by Iran’s state-controlled press that are reigniting debate over the Obama administration’s decision earlier this year to pay Iran $1.7 billion in cash.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what everyone (except the Obama administration) knew what would happen when we agreed to pay Iran a total of $1.7 billion in cold hard cash for the release of four American prisoners in January. They got what they wanted once, so why not ask for more?
As The Washington Free Beacon notes, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani fully expects more payouts from the United States in the future, an action Congress has been furiously trying to prevent via legislation.
We were supposed to have the upper hand with the Iranian nuclear deal President Obama signed last summer. Iran was supposed to halt its nuclear weapons program and become a more cooperative international player. Yet, these past months have only confirmed that all the agreement did was embolden our dangerous adversary.