The Iran tab: Full cost in question

All the assets spent to appease Iran and secure a nuclear deal add up to one inescapable assessment of the Obama administration: It was played, badly.

Never mind the estimated $115 billion in sanctions relief for the Islamic republic over the past three years, according to The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. “surrendered” more than $10 billion in cash, gold and other assets, The Washington Free Beacon reports. That includes the infamous $1.7 billion that's been described as a “ransom” payment to Iran for the release of American hostages.

Yet with each revelation of what the U.S. actually paid Iran, Team Obama denies the initial report, “then they low-ball it until they're caught again,” a foreign policy expert tells The Free Beacon.

Meanwhile Iranian fast-attack vessels, as recently as last week, harass U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran continues its ballistic missile tests.

Between cash infusions and sanctions relief, it all amounts to quite a windfall for a state sponsor of terrorism whose nefarious activities include bolstering the butchery of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Cognizant of the payoff Iran got to curb its nuclear ambitions, what will North Korea demand — that is, beyond the now-defunct Agreed Framework signed by the Clinton administration?

In many ways, the full cost of President Obama's outrageous overtures to Iran has not yet been fully realized.

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