The State Department revealed in a press briefing Monday that they do not know who in Iran picked up the $400 million that the Obama administration airlifted to Iran as leverage to get American hostages released.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that while he did not know who picked up the $400 million that was flown to Iran, he said that the Obama administration does.
"Do you know who picked up the money?" Associated Press reporter Bradley Klapper asked.
"I don’t," Toner said, triggering some confusion between him and Klapper.
"Who’d you pay?" Klapper asked.
"I believe it was Iranian officials and Iranian government officials, but I don’t know particularly who individually it was," Toner said.
"Do you know from which part of the Iranian government you paid?" Klapper asked.
"I don’t have that information, no," Toner said.
"Does the administration know who it paid?" Klapper asked.
"I’m certain they would, yes," Toner said.
After further questioning from Klapper as to whether this information would be made public, Toner could not say definitively for sure if it would.
Who received the money in Iran could be significant as some elements of the Iranian government are engaged in terrorist activities and developing ballistic missiles.