Report: Iranian Official Says GOPers Tried To Stall Prisoner Swap For 2016 Election

[MerryBlooms]

An Iranian official said "Republican rivals of the current US administration" attempted to stall last month's Iranian-U.S. prisoner swap until the eve of the U.S. presidential election, Tasnim News Agency reported.

According to the semi-official Iranian news outlet, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, made the claims during a speech Thursday at a rally in Yazd, Iran.

"In the course of the talks for exchanging prisoners, the Republican rivals of the current US administration who claim to be humanitarians and advocates of human rights sent a message telling us not to release these people [American prisoners] and continue this process [of talks] until the eve of US presidential elections,” Shamkhani said, according to Tasnim.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/shamkhani-republican-prisonor-swap

If true, would not surprise me.

[DebbieCDC]

1. Shades of the Iranian hostage crisis

Where miraculously the American hostages were released as soon as Rayguns took the throne.

The past is prologue

[MerryBlooms]

24. Yes, and also reminded how the republicans have

traveled to other countries to sabotage President Obama's foreign policy. republicans have an absolute disgraceful record in this regard.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. They did similar things twice before,

so why not three times?

[Qutzupalotl]

9. I know about Reagan, but what was the other incident you're referring to?

[Human101948]

10. Nixon sabotaged the Vietnam Peace talks

Richard Nixon was a traitor.

The new release of extended versions of Nixon's papers now confirms this long-standing belief, usually dismissed as a "conspiracy theory" by Republican conservatives. Now it has been substantiated by none other than right-wing columnist George Will.

Nixon's newly revealed records show for certain that in 1968, as a presidential candidate, he ordered Anna Chennault, his liaison to the South Vietnam government, to persuade them to refuse a cease-fire being brokered by President Lyndon Johnson.

Nixon's interference with these negotiations violated President John Adams's 1797 Logan Act, banning private citizens from intruding into official government negotiations with a foreign nation.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/08/12/george-will-confirms-nixons-vietnam-treason

[Qutzupalotl]

12. Thank you. Sick of these party-before-country Republicans.

[karynnj]

30. true and that was in 1968 and half the Americans who are

Died, died after that point.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Nixon's gang in '68

interfered in the peace talks between the U.S. and Vietnam to avoid an end to that war. Nixon had a "secret plan" to end the war, so he couldn't have LBJ ending it first.

[eppur_se_muova]

20. This story about Nixon has leaked out in dribs and drabs over the years ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4626734

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101658345

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027142563

This was long rumored, but one witness or recording after another confirms it ... it can no longer be considered hearsay.

[rufus dog]

22. And helps bring the Watergate break in into focus.

Even as a kid I couldn't figure out why he was breaking in when he was cruising to reelection.

Because he thought Larry O'Brien had recordings of his treasonous ass!

[Kip Humphrey]

3. We have traitors in our midst (again!). Can we investigate and prosecute this time, please?

[edited to add:]
even though they aren't whistle-blowers.

[ladjf]

4. Wow! History is repeating itself.

I'm referring to the alleged deal between Reagan's campaign committee and the Iranian officials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Surprise_conspiracy_theory

The Republican Party has been rigging elections since the convention of 1860.

My apologies to poster #1. I had made my post without reading yours.

[deathrind]

5. It would not be the first time.

republicans did it back in 79.

[arcane1]

6. Same old tricks, decades later n/t

[shraby]

7. Can I say it makes me think of Tom Cotton etal?

[blm]

13. Yep - he's one of the main water carriers.

But - I'll also bet it's Bush IranHostages Redux. That's right in their wheelhouse, even if they used others to shield their involvement.

[onyourleft]

23. Oh, indeed.

Cotton came immediately to mind.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. Treason?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. It might October surprise me. nt

[TwilightGardener]

14. I don't put any faith in Iranian propaganda.

If any non-Iranian reliable news source could dig deeper, though, I'd be all ears.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. Slime balls. nt

[rbrnmw]

16. dirty traitorous assholes

1980 October Surprise repeats itself. I hope MSM investigates this.

[L. Coyote]

17. Simply criminal.

[elleng]

18. NOT the first time.

[MerryBlooms]

26. That fucker should have been impeached.

I still despise that man and his cronies. That photo really brings it all back.

[Hortensis]

21. You don't have to go back to Reagan and Nixon.

Just check out Mitch McConnell and crowd during other elections. I don't remember the details of the particular episode poking at the perimeter of my mind, but they've done their best to block anything and everything that might benefit Obama and the Democrats during these past 8 years, nation be damned, and of course a bunch of helpless detainees in far corners of the world be damned.

[MerryBlooms]

27. +1 Yep

[malaise]

25. Rinse and repeat

No surprise.

[GOLGO 13]

28. Ok. So go ahead & now release the emails

Lets watch this blow up during an election year.

[sorefeet]

29. Why would Iran do these assholes any favors.

47 of these traitors sent Iran a letter and told them to not hold their breath about the sanction deal Obama made. A threat.