The Iran Lies They're Counting On You to Never Check

Obama "Sent Iran $1.7 Billion in Cash"

This claim has been repeated so many times that millions of people treat it as settled fact. But every word of the framing is misleading. Here's the documented history.

In the late 1970s, under the Shah of Iran, Iran paid the United States $400 million through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales Trust Fund — money earmarked for military equipment. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the U.S. froze the funds and never delivered the weapons. For nearly four decades, Iran pursued its claim before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, an international arbitration body established precisely to resolve disputes like this one.

• It was Iran's money. Every dollar originated from Iran's own 1970s payment. It was never U.S. taxpayer money. State Department legal adviser Lisa Grosh confirmed this in congressional testimony.
• The U.S. was going to lose. President Obama stated publicly that U.S. lawyers assessed "significant litigation risk" and that settling would save "billions of dollars." The U.S. owed not just the $400M principal but 37 years of interest — hence the $1.3 billion remainder.
• Cash was required by sanctions. The U.S. maintained sanctions that barred normal banking transactions with Iran. The Treasury Department converted the principal to Swiss francs and euros and transferred it through European central banks — specifically because the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Iran made wire transfers impossible.
• It was announced publicly. Obama announced the settlement on January 17, 2016 — months before it became a controversy. It was never hidden.

The only legitimate question was whether the timing of the cash delivery — coinciding with a prisoner exchange — was appropriate. Even on that point: the settlement was legally separate from the prisoner release, and the cash was in transit before the prisoner deal was finalized. Iran's own officials tried to spin it as ransom. When American politicians repeat Iran's spin, who are they actually helping?

"Obama's Policies Forced Trump to Bomb Iran"

This claim attempts to retroactively blame the architect of a working arms-control agreement for the consequences of that agreement being deliberately dismantled. The documented sequence of events tells the real story.

• Obama's JCPOA was working. The deal — signed with the U.S., China, Russia, France, Germany, and the U.K. — extended Iran's nuclear breakout time to over 12 months, reduced its enriched uranium stockpile by 98%, and established unprecedented international inspections. Multiple independent assessments confirmed Iran was complying.
• Trump withdrew in 2018 — despite knowing Iran was complying. Trump had twice certified to Congress that Iran was in compliance before he withdrew. His own Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Joseph Dunford, told Congress in September 2017 that Iran was "adhering to its JCPOA obligations." Trump pulled out anyway.
• Iran's nuclear capacity exploded after the U.S. withdrawal. After the JCPOA was scrapped, Iran's breakout time collapsed from 12+ months to a matter of weeks. The uranium enrichment that preceded the 2025 U.S. strikes happened in the period after Trump abandoned the agreement — not under it.
• Military decisions belong to whoever makes them. As PolitiFact, PBS, and FactCheck.org all note: the choice to bomb Iran in 2025 was a policy decision made by the Trump administration. No prior president's policies "forced" that choice. Presidents have options. This one chose military action.