Wall Street Journal: Who Read What in 2016

Steph Curry, Dava Sobel, Mike Lee, Yaa Gyasi, Abby Wambach, Jeff Bewkes and 44 more of WSJ's friends name their favorite books of 2016.

Michael Doran on the Iran deal:

...And if, on a completely unrelated topic, you sense that President Obama’s opening to Iran was ill-advised, then Jay Solomon’s “The Iran Wars” is also for you. Mr. Solomon, a Journal reporter, describes how an overeager secretary of state, John Kerry, offered up imprudent concessions while hiding the depth of the Islamic Republic’s hostility to America. Without saying it explicitly, Mr. Solomon leads you to conclude that the nuclear deal, built as it is on wishful thinking, is destined to collapse of its own weight. 
 

Mr. Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, is the author of “Ike’s Gamble: America’s Rise to Dominance in the Middle East."

The deals and rhetoric behind the U.S. relationship with Iran

In his new book, “The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles and the Secret Deals that Reshaped the Middle East,” The Wall Street Journal's Jay Solomon discusses the U.S. power struggle with Iran, including the Obama administration’s nuclear deal and controversial cash delivery and whether Iran complicated the American stance on Assad. Solomon sits down with Margaret Warner to discuss his work.

The Weekly Standard Q&A with Jay Solomon

“Jay Solomon, one of America’s top national security journalists, has covered Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Over the last few years, he has focused especially on Iran, its larger regional project, and U.S.-Iran relations, including the deal over the regime’s nuclear program, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Solomon’s stories about Iran continue to lead the news. His report last month showing how the Obama White House shipped $400 million to Iran on wooden pallets at the same time the clerical regime released U.S. hostages strongly suggested the administration paid ransom.

His just-published first book The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals that Reshaped the Middle East is the fall season’s top book on national security and has already hit a number of bestseller lists. Recently, I sat down with Solomon here in Washington, D.C. to talk about his book, Iran, the Obama administration, and the direction of American foreign policy.”

— Lee Smith, The Weekly Standard

Andrea Mitchell Reports: Inside the US-Iran struggle

Jay Solomon joins NBC's Andrea Mitchell to discuss his reporting on Iran, "secret deals" in the Middle East, and his new book "The Iran Wars":

Real Clear Politics

"But there are broader questions about the Obama administration’s Iran dealings than dissembling about the mechanics of hostage negotiations. They form a substantial part of Jay Solomon’s painstakingly reported book, 'The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East.' It shows that the Obama administration’s far-fetched denials of ransom payment are part and parcel of more fundamental problems."

 - Peter Berkowitz, Real Clear Politics

PBS News Hour: Investigating the Obama administration’s $400 million payment to Iran →

PBS News Hour: "The Wall Street Journal revealed this week that in January, the Obama administration secretly airlifted $400 million in cash to Iran. The money was owed as part of a failed arms deal prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but payment coincided with the release of four Americans held in Tehran. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Jay Solomon, the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story."

Watch the interview below:

Morning Joe: Inside the $400M payment to Iran →

Jay joins Morning Joe to discuss about the $400M in cash that coincided with the release of four Americans detained in Iran:

KCRW: Did the US pay ransom to Iran for release of American prisoners? →

KCRW: "In January of this year, the US and Iran reached their nuclear deal and Iran had released four American prisoners. President Obama said it was time to resolve a dispute over an arms deal made before the Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah of Iran. It was worth $1.7 billion. What Obama did not say was that $400 million in cash had already been airlifted to Iran. Today, the White House says the timing was coincidental — denying that ransom was paid for the release of the prisoners. Jay Solomon is reporting the story for the Wall Street Journal." 

Charlie Rose: Obama and Khamenei

Middle East scholar Ray Takeyh and journalists Carol Lee and Jay Solomon report on President Obama's correspondence with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei regarding a nuclear arms deal on Charlie Rose:

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