Roy Blunt: “today I want to talk about the President's recent dealings with Iran and the serious questions the administration's…”

“today I want to talk about the President's recent dealings with Iran and the serious questions the administration's actions have raised. Let me begin by saying first of all that I welcome--as do all Americans who have been watching this--the release of the three American hostages who were wrongfully detained in Iran. We are all glad to see the return of Pastor Saeed Abedini, Jason Rezaian, and Amir Hekmati. That they have been freed and that they have been reunited with their families is important. Our prayers--my prayers and the prayers of so many Americans--remain with those families and with the family of Robert Levinson, a former FBI employee about whom we have not been given the kind of information we need to have. If he is alive, we should demand his release. If he is not alive, we should demand and find out what happened to Robert Levinson. In return for these three hostages being released, the United States released seven Iranians or Iranian Americans who had been convicted of transferring technology, which included nuclear dual-use technology, to Iran. The administration also agreed to take 14 Iranians off the Interpol arrest list as part of this effort to get Americans unfairly held back. If clearing the way for 21 convicted or indicted enemies of the United States wasn't enough, then the United States, in my view, also agreed to pay $1.7 billion to Iran. In everybody's view, they paid that $1.7 billion at the time of the swap.…”