Liberal New York Times: Iran Ransom Story 'Fake'

The New York Times ran an editorial Tuesday debunking the $400 million ransom payment to Iran as fake, instead calling the timing of it "pragmatic diplomacy not capitulation."

"The truth is that the administration withheld the payment to ensure Iran didn't renege on its promise to free three detainees," the Times wrote.

After recapping the narrative of how the U.S. owed Iran that money from an agreement reached in 1979 and the decades-long tug-of-war between the two countries over exactly how much was owed, the Times asserted that all parties came out clean on the other side.

"While the asset negotiations were separate from the negotiations over the nuclear program and the release of the detainees, all three issues came together in a carefully choreographed push that many hoped would set the stage for more constructive relations between the two nations," the Times wrote.

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