WSJ: U.S. Sent $1.3 Billon in Three Payments to Iran
CUOMO: All right. A headline that needs unpacking from the "Wall Street Journal" this morning, the U.S. has sent around $1.3 billion in foreign currency to Iran. This is the first real accounting of how much money the U.S. has sent on to that country. Why? What effect could it have? And what could it mean to the war on terror in a bad way? Tony Blinken, the deputy secretary of state, joins us now. Tony, great to have you on the show.</s>ANTHONY BLINKEN, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Chris, thanks for having me.</s>CUOMO: First, $1.3 billion. Can you verify that number? Is that how much has been transferred to date?</s>BLINKEN: Well, I haven't seen that report. But here's what's going on, we achieved a nuclear deal with Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear weapon. That's made us safer, made countries around the world safer. Part of that involved lifting sanctions on Iran, and that freed up money that had been frozen around the world that Iran had in bank accounts that it couldn't bring back to Iran. Now as part of the deal, Iran is bringing back some of that money. But the overwhelming majority of that money is going into their economy which is in dire straits. It's not going to the military.</s>CUOMO: How do we know?</s>BLINKEN: We know. We've seen it. We see what they're saying. We see how they're spending it. And what they've told us, but also what we see, is that instead of going to the military, the money is being poured back into the economy, because this is an economy that was suffering terribly.</s>CUOMO: Do you think that you could guarantee from the State Department to the American people that this doesn't get filtered into groups like Hezbollah and other terrorist allies that Iran has, and not one dollar of it can go there? Do you think we could really know --</s>BLINKEN: We can't say that not one single dollar would go there. What we can say, based on what we've seen so far, is that virtually all of it is going into the economy, not into the military. And the bottom line is this, this agreement that we've reached has made us safer. It's put far into the future the day when Iran could get enough material for a nuclear weapon.</s>CUOMO: The perception is, the politics of this has never played as well, as the administration wanted them to, that you gave them everything and they can still do things that we can't uncover here. They haven't treated the deal with full respect the way they were supposed to. They haven't given back those three joint citizens. The Iranian-U.S. citizens and yet, they're getting their money. Fair criticism?</s>BLINKEN: First, the deal was not going to solve every problem. It's focused on one thing. That is the nuclear program that was growing, and growing and growing. Countries around the world are getting tired of the sanctions. We acted in a way that put far into the future the day where they could get enough material for a bomb. Second, the IAEA, the organization that's been monitoring this, has told us that Iran is making good under its commitments on the deal. And indeed, our own sources tell us that Iran is making good on its commitments under the deal. So, they're living up to their side of the bargain. Our side of the bargain was to release some of the sanctions and so, some of the money is going back. But again, it's going into the economy, not into the military.</s>CUOMO: Was any of the money that's been sent to Iran a quid pro quo to get those Americans freed?</s>BLINKEN: No.</s>CUOMO: You're 100 percent sure of that?</s>BLINKEN: Absolutely.</s>CUOMO: So, all of these discussions about the planes and the money, that's just spin?</s>BLINKEN: Absolutely. We were in an environment when having getting this deal done, it was possible to see if we could get some other things done. We owed Iran a lot of money from way back when. We had sold them weapons. This is during the shah, before the revolution. The revolution happened. We kept the money. We didn't send them the weapons. There was an arbitration that President Reagan backed to decide what to do. And we were able to conclude a deal in way that actually saved us billions of dollars.</s>CUOMO: The -- what do you make of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies? It's a right-leaning group, politically in its disposition. American courts have found Iran liable for tens of billions of dollars for victims of Iran-backed terror. Should we have used the money that they're supposed to get back to give to those victims?</s>BLINKEN: This deal hasn't solved every problem. We've remained absolutely focused on a lot of things that Iran is doing around the word, including support for terrorism, that continue to pose a threat to our security, the security of Americans, the security of people around the world. We're focused on that like a hawk. But taking this nuclear problem off the table was a big deal, and it also took away from Iran for feeling that it could act with total impunity knowing that it was backed by a nuclear program.</s>CUOMO: The administration, different military sources, you all bristled when Donald Trump said, I'm going to get a 30-day plan for how to beat ISIS? Why? Why is that such a bothersome proposition?</s>BLINKEN: Look, I'm not focused on Mr. Trump's plan or anyone else's plan. I'm focused on the strategy that we're implementing that is succeeding to taking to ISIL and succeeding in winning. By every single measure that we look at this -- territory, leaders killed, propaganda on the Internet, the flow of foreign fighters, the flow of financing, by every single measure this strategy is succeeding.</s>CUOMO: So, the idea you that don't have a plan, because that's what he means, within the month you don't have a plan, you reject that?</s>BLINKEN: It's absolutely wrong, and it's actually dangerous to say that, because here's what happens, ISIL feeds off the impression it gives, the perception it creates that it's 10 feet tall. That's how it attracts foreign fighters from around the world. And as we have a strategy that's working and succeeding, we're taking away that narrative. The message is going out, no, they're not 10 feet tall, in fact they're losing. They're falling back. They're losing territory. They're losing leaders. So when anyone says, ah, the administration doesn't have a plan, it doesn't have a strategy, it's not succeeding. That actually goes right to the narrative of ISIL, that's what they use to attract foreign fighters. That's exactly what we need to stop.</s>CUOMO: Quickly, as a diplomat, you use the word "dangerous" a lot. WE hear about the -- whoa, what, Trump does is dangerous. He goes down to Mexico, he has his meeting, we hear that word "dangerous" again. What is it about diplomacy that people are missing in a meeting like what happened with Trump and going to Mexico?</s>BLINKEN: Look, I think we're at a time, Chris, when -- and it's understandable because so many people feel left out and left behind with so many of the changes that are happening around the world. And part of that results in an instinct to pull back, to come home or to act and go it alone, not to work with others, not to work cooperatively. But we can't advance our interests, we can't protect our people if we're not actually acting with others, working with others. We can't build a wall high enough to stop the seas from rising, the planet from warming. We can't lock the door tight up to prevent disease from coming into the country or terrorists for that matter. The best way to do it, the most effective way to do it, is to work with alliances, to work with partners, to work with others. That's what we're trying to do, and that's the art of diplomacy.</s>CUOMO: And -- but the criticism on the other side is, America seems weak. America doesn't enforce its will on people anymore. ISIS attacks here, attacks all over the world seemingly with impunity, and people are afraid, and that's why in polls you see Trump, on national security, he's down to Hillary Clinton, but on fighting terror, he's up. What does that tell you about the perspective on the administration?</s>BLINKEN: Look, I can't speak to Mr. Trump, but I can say this. Again, there is a sense out there of chaos and confusion. So much information is coming at people every single second. They're trying to make sense of it. But what I do know is this, when it comes to ISIL, we are succeeding. We are pushing them back. We are actually on the road to defeating them in Iraq and in Syria. And around the world, American leadership is bringing countries together, 65 countries now in a coalition to deal with ISIL, rallying countries in Europe to deal with Russia's aggression in Ukraine. This climate agreement, which is going to be remembered far, far longer than any of the things we're talking about today, that we reached with China and other countries around the world, that's the best we have at for protecting our planet for decades to come. That's American leadership.</s>CUOMO: Tony Blinken, thank you very much for coming in, making the case for America.</s>BLINKEN: Thanks for having me, Chris.</s>CUOMO: Appreciate it. Alisyn?</s>CAMEROTA: Well, a major settlement in the sexual harassment suit against disgraced former FOX News chief Roger Ailes. Why the network is apologizing to a former anchor and what the big settlement could mean for this presidential race. That's next.