US Congressman Asserts US-Iran Agreement to Release Americans is Not a Reward

Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington and the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, recently defended the proposed U.S. agreement to secure the release of Americans held in Iran. He referred to this agreement as “not a bounty.”

The United States is currently working on a deal to bring home five detained Americans in Iran. The deal involves the transfer of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets from banks in South Korea to Qatar. Some critics argue that this deal puts bounties on the heads of Americans, but Smith dismisses this as a misunderstanding.

“That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what this money is,” Smith explained in an interview with Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s not a bounty because we’re not paying the money. It’s Iran’s money that was sitting in South Korea, so it’s not a bounty.”

Smith responded to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s criticism of the potential exchange deal with Iran. Bream played a clip of Pompeo arguing that the Biden administration is contradicting past practices by providing Iran with money. Smith refutes this by pointing out that under Pompeo’s tenure, money was transferred from other countries to Iran without any conditions.

“Under Secretary Pompeo, these other countries, including Italy and India, transferred money to Iran under the same circumstances. Iran sold goods to these countries, sanctions were imposed, and Pompeo oversaw the transfer of money from those countries to Iran without any strings attached. So it is not a bounty and these claims are factually incorrect,” Smith stated.

White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby clarified last week that the “deal is not done” as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are still ongoing. He also emphasized that a rigorous process of due diligence and standards would be applied with the input of the U.S. Treasury Department.

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