UK Denies Paying ‘Blood Money’ To Iran For Detainee Release

The UK government has defended the payment of £400 million to Iran after Former US secretary of state; Mike Pompeo accused the UK of paying ‘blood money’ to Iran for detainee releases.

Pompeo said the UK was “rewarding hostage-takers” and that the funds would be used by the regime in Tehran to “terrorize” Israel, Britain, and the United States.

However, Downing Street insisted the payment – ​​to settle an outstanding debt dating back more than 40 years – was not “contingent” on the release of detainees by Iran.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the UK had never accepted nationals being used as “political leverage”, and that the money was “ring-fenced” for the purchase of humanitarian goods.

The UK priced taking & holding its citizens hostage at $530 million. We prevented paying blood money— not rewarding hostage-takers. That cash will terrorize Israel, UK & US. Sadly, Iran, w/Russia & China, is rolling the West. Appeasement feels good until it fails— it always does. https://t.co/0VcGfgQSD7

— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) March 16, 2022

On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary; Liz Truss announced that the UK was paying £393.8 million to Iran “in parallel” with the release of Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her fellow dual-national, Anoosheh Ashooori.

The payment was to cover the debt owed by a subsidiary of the Ministry of Defense – International Military Services (IMS) – after Britain canceled an order of Chieftain tanks following the overthrow of the Shah in 1979.

However Mr. Pompeo – who served under Donald Trump – said it amounted to “appeasement” of hostage-takers.

“The UK priced taking and holding its citizens hostage at 530 million dollars. We prevented paying blood money – not rewarding hostage-takers,” he tweeted.

“That cash will terrorize Israel, the UK, and the US. Sadly, Iran, with Russia and China, is rolling the West. Appeasement feels good until it fails – it always does.”

The Prime Minister’s said the Government had always acknowledged that it had owed the money for the tanks which were never delivered.

“We have said we would settle the IMS debt in parallel. We have done that. It is not contingent on the release of any detainees. We have been clear about that from the start,” the said.

“We have resolved that debt as we always said we would. The UK has never accepted our nationals being used as political leverage for any purpose, including trying to secure the IMS debt repayment.”

Mr. Pompeo’s comments come after it was disclosed earlier this month that the US state department was paying more than two million dollars (£1.5 million) a month to provide security for him and a former top aid in the face of “serious and credible” threats from Iran.

Earlier, Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said the negotiations with the regime in Tehran had proved “incredibly difficult”, not least because of the “huge number” of sanctions imposed on Iran.

He said they had taken “every precaution” to ensure the money paid to settle the outstanding debt for an order of British tanks which was never delivered would be used purely for humanitarian purposes.

“We owed this debt, we accepted that debt. Obviously, the sanctions position made it incredibly difficult – you cannot just write a check,” he told Sky News.

“The details of how we have done it have to remain confidential, but it has taken a huge amount of work to come up with a method of ensuring that money is for humanitarian purposes and that it conforms to the sanctions regime.”