"The American people deserve to know what the impetus was for agreeing to a settlement of $1.7 billion with Iran after the [Obama] administration released over $100 billion in sanctions relief," the press release stated on Thursday.
Ros-Lehtinen, along with Subcommittee on Terrorism Chairman Ted Poe and 52 other members of the House of Representatives, sent a letter to Kerry seeking clarification on the sequence of events.
Poe called the payment to Tehran, which allegedly settled a disputed claim, deeply concerning.
"Negotiating with Iran as if it were a well-intentioned actor behind closed doors and without even briefing Members of Congress is simply dangerous and irresponsible," Poe maintained.
On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries comprising the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, signed a nuclear agreement that guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.