Pastor Saeed Abedini confirms Iran waited ‘for another plane’ to arrive before setting hostages free
President Obama and the White House officials continue to deny the Iranian payoff of $400 million is not connected to the release of prisoners from Iranian jail, but Pastor Saeed Abedini has come out to explain what the Iranians were saying directly before their release.
“They said, ‘We are waiting for another plane and until that plane [arrives], we never let you go,’” Pastor Saeed Abedini told Fox Business Network.
When asked if he believed the U.S. government paid a “ransom” to free him and the other Americans, Abedini didn’t provide a direct answer. However, he argued Iran likely won’t use the money for good.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier connected the dots between Abedini’s story and the $400 million payment, but also admitted the evidence is still “circumstantial.”
“Talk about evidence of a quid pro quo or ransom,” Baier said. “This is circumstantial, but it does time up with what that man was experiencing on the plane. As you look at that plane sitting there waiting to go until the other one lands.”
Obama has denied that the $400 million cash payment to Iran was ransom. The payment was part of a decades-old dispute over a failed military equipment deal dating to the 1970s, before the Islamic revolution in 1979.
[…] In a press conference last Thursday (8/04), Obama dismissed the clear implication that the cash payment was ransom. But his statements were exposed as a lie by former hostage Pastor Saeed Abedini. […]