Kildee Denies A Ransom Paid For Release Of Iranian Hostage Amir Hekmati

FLINT, Mich. (WWJ) - There are new questions about the release of Flint native Amir Hekmati from an Iranian jail, after a report that the U.S. secretly organized an airlift of $400 million to Iran the very same day.

Flint Congressman Dan Kildee tells WWJ's Sandra McNeill the events are unrelated.

"This was not a ransom as some have suggested," said Kildee. "It was a dispute that long predated the nuclear talks - long predated any of these Americans being held captive - was still being disputed - ultimately was resolved, these events were likely to occur in close proximity to one another because for the first time ever, at least in decades, negotiations were actually occurring between the United States and Iran."

"The president and the state department acknowledged that they were settling these other long-standing disputes - now were we aware of the specific mechanism used to satisfy the agreement in terms of financial resources? No, but that typically wouldn't be the case anyway."

In January it was reported that Iran would release four detained Americans, including Hekmati, in exchange for seven Iranians held or charged in the United States, U.S. and Iranian officials said at the time it was part of a major diplomatic breakthrough announced as implementation of a landmark nuclear deal appeared imminent. A fifth American detained in Iran, a student, was released in a move unrelated to the swap, U.S. officials said.

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi, whose name had not been previously made public, were flown from Iran to Switzerland aboard a Swiss aircraft and then transported to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment, U.S. officials said.

Kildee, who fought for the release of Amir Hekmati. He believes government officials who say the $400 million loaded onto a plane was part of a separate negotiation of approximately $1.7 billion, over a failed arms deal.