I like to picture it like this.

JFC, you’re an idiot. The US owed them the money. They resisted payment for decades. As an ancillary part of a much larger deal killing their nukes program, the US agreed to pay the amount owed, and Iran agreed to release the prisoners. You can call it quid pro quo if you want, but that doesn’t make it ransom.

When Trump says he loves the poorly educated, this is what he means.