There is no, and has never been, ‘an escrow account’. Josh Earnest hedged his statement by saying “So that money essentially was held in what could, I think — essentially in an escrow account.” That implies an actual deposit, and actual accrued interest. There actually were some escrow accounts set up right after the…

It certainly a better deal than what they originally claimed. But realistically, the only hard asset that they have that has a global market is oil, and one can (and I do) argue that their rate of return must be based on the rate of return on a tradable asset that they own.

That’s not how bullion transfers work. And they have already re-entered the international finance system (albeit without using instruments denominated in US currency). It would have been much, much easier to allow a wire transfer of Swiss Francs and / or Euros. Iran wanted the cash.

Cash, especially Euros and Swiss Francs, helps. It’s tough to fund Hamas with bank transfers, and Rubles only get you so far.....

There are plenty of ways to perform the transaction without using cash, and not using US denominated assets. Inter-governmental bullion transactions (which is how the rest of the debt will be paid) is the most obvious choice. So the question remains - why cash?

I imagine the cash has been logged and is traceable by many means, but physical currency is much harder to watch. There will be money to be made in laundering, that is for sure. But yes, we’ve just dumped at least a couple of hundred million into the international terrorism economy.

It is a ridiculous rate for Iran. So, no, one shouldn’t use first world standards.

Thanks for your insightful comment.

For Iran, that rate of interest is outrageous. Their economy has not returned anything close to that rate. Someone failed international politics and macro-economics.

That’s the usual argument made by revolutionary governments, and the usual response by creditor nations is exactly what happened in this case - sanctions and boycott. We have unilaterally given up our side in this case, so what is done is done.

Depends on the country, banking system and the ability to invest in global markets. Iran has not seen those compounded rates internally (or anything close to them) since 1979.

In cash? No. Please do let me know your list of things a government would do with $400 Million in foreign cash. Hell, OUR government had a hard time coming up with that amount - we had to ask the Swiss and the Dutch (for whom the currencies in question is their NATIONAL currencies) for help. So, let us all know.

It’s exactly what I think it is. There is only one use for that much in cash. Fund terrorism. As for the deal to return the $400 million (plus outrageous interest), Iran actually owes US companies much more than that in nationalized assets after their theocratic takeover.

Every once in a while $kaycog has to venti. (*coughi, cough*) I’ll let myself out.....

I love this. Do it.

No S.O. bikes? We had them back in ‘82 for God’s sake. And I understand D.A.R.P.A. is is testing new ‘silent’ ones....

No, I’m not kidding. Laws should apply to everyone, not just to a disliked group. Even worse, the German police aren’t even following the existing law, simply making it up as they go along. It is an awful thing to caprisciously decide ‘I don’t like these people, so I am going to prosecute them simply because they…

I have a big problem with this. Germany has some history of creating laws target a group of people the government didn’t like, and one would think they would have learned from the experience. It is also incredibly disappointing to continuously read comments from supporters of such actions. Come on people, think this…

I met him once in Toronto. Extremely nice, extremely tiny and somewhat otherworldly. We all know his talent. Once a reporter asked Eric Clapton what it was like to be the world’s greatest guitarist. He said, “I don’t know, you should ask Prince.”

Just to escape from the now cliche ‘look at how tough a girl can be’ meme, which is so, so played.....