The $1.7 billion cash payment that the White House recently sent to Iran suggests that Washington may have transferred to Tehran more than $33 billion in untraceable cash and precious metals since 2014, giving the Islamic Republic greater flexibility to launder money and finance terrorism.

After denying it sent Iran $400 million in cash as ransom for the release of US prisoners, the Obama administration has now admitted that the money was indeed linked to the prisoner exchange, but was not, in actuality, a ransom.