2016 FactCheck: on Foreign Policy

Donald Trump: FactCheck: No, Iran is not a trading partner of North Korea

The MIT Atlas indicates that Trump is incorrect: "The top export destinations of North Korea are China ($2.67B), India ($71M), Pakistan ($40M), Nigeria ($20M) and Brazil ($19M). The top import origins are China ($3.49B), Thailand ($107M), Russia ($82M), India ($75M) and Singapore ($48M)." Iran is not in the top five trading partners of North Korea, whether counting exports or imports.

Maybe Trump meant that North Korea is on the top list of Iran's trading partners? The MIT Atlas indicates that Trump is also incorrect if that's what he meant "The top export destinations of Iran are China ($25B), India ($10B), Japan ($6B), South Korea ($4B) and Turkey ($1B). The top import origins are China ($24B), India ($4B), South Korea ($4B), Turkey ($4B) & Germany ($3B)."

We note that South Korea is on Iran's list of top trading partners--not North Korea!

Donald Trump: FactCheck: Yes, nuke deal sent planeloads of cash to Iran

"The Obama administration secretly arranged a plane’delivery of’$400 million’in’ cash on the same day Iran released four American prisoners’and’formally implemented’the nuclear deal. The money was flown into Iran on wooden pallets stacked with Swiss francs, euros and other currencies’as the first installment of a $1.7’billion settlement’resolving’claims at an international tribunal at The Hague over a failed arms deal under the time of the Shah.

The $400 million was Iran's to start with, placed into a US-based trust fund to support American military equipment purchases in the 1970s. When the Shah was ousted by a 1979 popular uprising, the US froze the trust fund. Iran has been fighting for a return of the funds--plus $1.3 billion in interest--through international courts since 1981."

Chris Christie: World has fewer democracies than before Obama