John Kirby explains the fine details between a ransom payment and whatever happened with Iran

As Twitchy reported earlier, the State Department on Thursday admitted that the pallet loaded with $400 million worth of cash and airlifted to Iran as hostages waited to take off was contingent on the release of the American prisoners.

To the discerning eye, however, the exchange of cash for hostages was NOT a ransom payment, a distinction the State Department’s John Kirby tried to explain on CNN Thursday night.

"The way the ransom…works is you pay first and then you get your hostages – that didn't happen." @statedeptspox https://t.co/FwHcj0YsK7

— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) August 18, 2016

https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/766430477637091329

If I were forced to repeat a line this pathetic, I'd resign. https://t.co/1WJjgKb1B8

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 19, 2016

https://twitter.com/El_Chuco_TX/status/766431921546985472

spox has never watched a spy movie or read a dictionary definition of ransom

— tom (@mograndpa) August 18, 2016

That’s for sure. So the difference is, the United States didn’t pay the $400 million first; instead … well, we’ll let Twitter take it from here, because it still looks like a ransom payment to us.

If they hand me the hostage right BEFORE I hand them the cash then it isn't ransom. #IranRansom https://t.co/OV6ITNRasM

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 19, 2016

@laurakfillault @OutFrontCNN @statedeptspox Wait… so the prisoners were ransom, and the money was the hostage?

— JereCTN (@JereCTN) August 19, 2016

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*We* ransomed *them*! making it totally cool to give a terror-state a plainload of cash in exchange for hostages. https://t.co/o5kHqNu7uy

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 19, 2016

Actual State Department spokesman: It's not ransom if Iran went first… https://t.co/Z2IjGqHnXk

— John Sexton (@verumserum) August 19, 2016

Sequence:
Hostages board Swiss plane in Tehran
Pallets of cash loaded onto Iranian plane in Geneva
Hostages wheels up
Money plane wheels up

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 19, 2016

So what are they arguing about? Which plane took off first??? Is this freshman philosophy? #IranRansom

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 19, 2016

"It wasn't a ransom."
"What was it then?"
"It was a flormph."
"What's a flormph?"
"A flormph is something that is not a ransom."

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 19, 2016