Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. had secretly airlifted $400 million dollars to Iran, coincidentally around the time that Iran released four Americans from prison. The U.S. State Department says it wasn’t a ransom payment, but part of an older settlement from a failed arms deal. The reporter on that story, Jay Solomon, looks deeper at the contentious history between the U.S. and Iran in his new book, “The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East.” We’ll talk to Solomon about the long-standing power struggle between America and Iran that often plays out behind the scenes.
- Why the Ayatollah Thinks He Won (Wall Street Journal)
- U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as Americans Were Freed (Wall Street Journal)
- The Fake $400 Million Iran ‘Ransom’ Story (New York Times)