The Obama administration sent $400 million to Iran at the same time American hostages were released, and Charles Krauthammer said he does not think the deal was ethical or even legal:
Krauthammer: Obama Iran Hostage Deal Is Illegal Quid Pro QuoOf course the Justice Department objected — it was illegal. It isn’t only the optics; it isn’t only that they are just looking ridiculous in denying that it was quid pro quo. Obviously it wasn’t a coincidence; the reason it was objected to by Justice — there is a statute that prohibits us from engaging in Iran dealing with dollars, so they had to print the money here, ship it over to Switzerland, turn it into Swiss francs and euros, and ship it over to Iran. If a private company had done this, it is called money laundering. The CEO would be in jail right now.