The American people have just found out that the Obama administration sent $400 million to Iran back in January, as a part of the nuclear deal with the Middle Eastern country. What was interesting was the fact that the money was delivered on the very same day that Iran finally released four American prisoners.

Coincidence? Critics of the current administration do not think so.

The response to the revelation of the $400 million delivery, which was airlifted to the Middle Eastern country in cold, hard cash, has largely been negative. Members of the GOP have been particularly livid when the information went public.

In fact, the sheer coincidence of the delivery and the date of the American prisoners' release seemed to point to the fact that the United States just paid ransom to a country that will most certainly use the money to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk., for one, has spoken out about the issue, asserting that paying ransom to countries like Iran puts Americans at even more risk.

"While Americans were relieved by Iran's overdue release of illegally imprisoned American hostages, the White House's policy of appeasement has led Iran to illegally seize more American hostages, including Siamak Namazi, his father Baquer Namazi and Reza Shahini," he said.

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump did not miss his chance to speak out on the subject, stating that the Obama administration's decision to pay ransom to Iran was "insane."

"Iran was in big trouble, they had sanctions, they were dying, we took off the sanctions and made this horrible deal and now they're a power. We paid $400 million for the hostages. Such a bad precedent was set by Obama. We have two more hostages there right? What's are we going to pay for them? What we're doing is insane," he said.

Despite the fallout from the issue, however, supporters of the current U.S. president have shrugged off the accusations of ransom, stating that there was nothing wrong with the deal and that the money sent to Iran was in no way a form of ransom for the American prisoners.

John Kirby of the State Department defended the payout, asserting that the $400 million payment and the release of the prisoners were not related in any way.

"The negotiations over the arms deal settlement were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home. Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side," he said. 

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