WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement after the State Department confirmed that it withheld a $400 million cash payment, which was part of its $1.7 billion settlement with Iran, until the regime released five American hostages.

“The Obama administration misled Congress, and the American people, when it repeatedly denied any connection between the release of American hostages in Iran and the $1.7 billion payout to the Iranian regime," Blunt said. "Today’s admission by the State Department that it withheld its $400 million cash payment until the hostages were releases proves what I, and many others, have said from the beginning: the Obama administration paid a ransom to a terrorist regime that has backed deadly attacks against America and our allies. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and this ransom payment gives the regime both the resources and the incentive to target more Americans. We are glad that the Americans who were held hostage in Iran are back with their families, and our prayers remain with the family of former FBI Agent Robert Levinson, who has been missing in Iran for more than nine years. However, the Obama administration owes the American people, particularly the families of those who have been killed in Iranian-backed terror attacks, truthful answers about the timing of this settlement, and we will keep fighting until we get them.”

On January 29, the week after the Obama administration announced the hostage release, Blunt sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew demanding answers about the timing of the administration’s settlement with Iran and the source of the funds that were used to pay it. In a hearing held on February 24, Blunt again pressed Kerry on the timing of the release. In his response, Kerry denied any connection between the settlement and the prisoners’ release, claiming “we made it clear to [Iran] it had to be done on a separate track, it had to be completely separate, we weren’t going to tie it in, and we reached one agreement before we reached the other, so the answer is no.”