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On 11 February 2016, the web site Occupy Democrats published an article maintaining unequivocally that unspecified Republicans in Congress had sought to stall the release of American prisoners held by Iran until the eve of the 2016 presidential election: Readers asking about the article's compelling assertions often remarked that the claim was not reported widely, nor they could find any confirming source. However, Gawker published an article which took a more skeptical view of the ambiguous, extraordinary claim and raised some important basic questions: The claim was also covered by the blog Talking Points Memo in a piece that detailed an accord in which the release of four American citizens detained in Iran was brokered in a swap amid larger negotiations over a nuclear treaty — prisoners who would have lingered in captivity for an additional eleven months had the assertions of Republican interference had any merit: All published reports were sourced from a single 11 February 2016 item published by Iran's Tasnim News Agency. According to that single source foreign report, Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani made the claim in the course of an address referencing a negotiated prisoner exchange with the United States: As noted earlier, Shamkhani's allegation raised a number of questions with respect to both plausibility and rudimentary detail. No actors from the Republican party were specifically described in the spoken claim (even by number, much less name), nor were any details provided about how or when the request was presented to Iran. The political damage to the Republican party risked by such a disclosure would itself serve as a significant barrier to its usefulness of such ploy as an election-related bargaining chip should the plot have been revealed in the fashion Shamkhani purportedly disclosed it. The potential return on investment for such a large political gamble was somewhat minimal, as the gains afforded by a strategically-timed, election-coincident swap would pale in comparison to the inevitable massive backlash that would ensue should the plan be revealed. Shamkhani framed his alleged example of Republican perfidy as support for Iran's assertion of immunity to foreign pressure, making it seem less like a truthful disclosure and more like a parable intended to rouse the faithful during a rally speech. And even had the release of prisoners been delayed until the eve of the election, the party currently occupying the White House (i.e., Democrats) would quite possibly reap more political points for the swap than the Republicans would, rendering the claim as presented even less plausible.
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