Apparently the Iranians don't believe it was merely coincidental: > Iranian press reports have quoted senior Iranian defense officials describing the cash as a

Apparently the Iranians don't believe it was merely coincidental: > Iranian press reports have quoted senior Iranian defense officials describing the cash as a ransom payment. The Iranian foreign ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment...Revolutionary Guard commanders boasted at the time that the Americans had succumbed to Iranian pressure. “Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies,” said Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, commander of the Guard’s Basij militia, on state media.