Wow, talking about the Obama transfer to Iran. Nothing shows ignorance more than making that claim.
We are talking 1979 here. At the time, Iran was the number one buyer of US made military equipment. They were required to have a trust fund, in which money was drawn from as contracts progressed on military purchases. In other words, they had to pay up front. They had 400 million, on account, and that was confiscated and all military contracts were void.
Part of the negotiation of the hostage release was the agreement to allow the Trilateral commission to negotiate a settlement to Iran's legitimate claim to that 400 million dollars. And you can look it up, after years of negotiation is was ruled that the US owed Iran over three billion dollars. Obama actually negotiated that down to almost fifty cents on the dollar, talk about art of the deal.
But anyways, to me, the real problem is it was not the US Government that held that 400 million, it was the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. They held it for decades, and note this, all the private owners of a Federal Reserve Bank get paid 6% interest on all excess reserves. Paid to them, private citizens.