Congressional panel okays bill nixing cash payments to Iran

A Congressional House committee has passed election-year legislation that prohibits the United States from making cash payments to Iran and requires that Congress be notified before any future claims settlements are made with Tehran.

The bill’s approval comes weeks after the Obama administration says it delivered $1.7 billion in cash to Iran earlier this year to settle a decades-old arbitration claim between the two countries.

An initial $400 million delivery was sent January 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners. The remainder followed in two additional installments.

Republicans decried the payments as ransom. The Obama administration has rejected the charge.

GOP Rep. Ed Royce of California — the House Foreign Affairs chairman — says Iran wanted cash so it could funnel the money to terrorist groups.

— AP