Paying ransom to Iranian captors seems to be what a $1.7 BILLION payment to Iran shakes out to be.  On the same day that the five Americans were released from Iran, a $1.7 billion payment was released from the US to Iran, at the direction of Secretary of State John Kerry.  Such action is not American policy–to negotiate or pay for the release of Americans–yet it appears, with the timing, that it was exactly what happened.  House Foreign Relations Committee authorization or even Congressional input was not sought, nor was  the body informed in advance of the plan, keeping lawmakers in the dark of the administration’s actions.

From The Washington Post:

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“The Department had ample opportunity to seek Congressional input on this matter,” [Rep. Ed] Royce (R-Calif.) wrote Kerry on Wednesday. “Yet, it never raised this potential financial settlement with the Committee.”

From Fox News:

The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee demanded Wednesday that Secretary of State John Kerry explain a $1.7 billion settlement paid to Iran that some Republicans have described as a “ransom” tied to last month’s release of five American prisoners.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., complained in a letter to Kerry that his committee was not consulted about the payment. The Obama administration claimed the agreement was made to settle a dispute with Iran over $400 million in frozen funds that dated back to 1979. The remaining $1.3 billion was described by the Obama administration as “interest”.

“It is unclear how this $1.7 billion payment is in the national security interests of the United States,” Royce wrote.

Royce’s letter included 10 questions to Kerry about the settlement. Among them are how the administration calculated the $1.3 billion “interest” on the payment, a timeline of negotiations over the payment since this past summer’s nuclear deal, and why the money was not used to “compensate American victims of Iranian terrorism who have been awarded judgments against Iran.”

Royce’s letter also asks for a list of U.S. officials who participated in negotiations with Iran over the payment, the prisoner release and the nuclear agreement.

The White House announced the payment on Jan. 17, the same day that Iran released five American prisoners, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former Marine Amir Hekmati, and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini.

At the time, Obama defended the amount paid by the U.S., saying it was “much less than the amount Iran sought.” The president added that the one-time payment was preferable to letting more interest accumulate while waiting for a judgement from the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, which is based in The Hague and was created in the deal that ended the Iran hostage crisis in 1981.

“I have a larger concern that in choosing to resolve this relatively minor bilateral dispute at this time, the Obama Administration is aggressively moving towards reestablishing diplomatic relations with Iran,” Royce wrote. “Such action would clearly violate the President’s pledge to ‘remain vigilant’ in countering the threat Iran poses to the United States and our allies in the region.”

State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed to Reuters that Royce’s letter had been received.

“As with all Congressional correspondence, we’ll respond as appropriate,” Kirby said. Royce’s letter gives Kerry until Feb. 17 to respond to his questions.