As President Barack Hussein Obama (D) continues to insist that one of his foreign policy crown jewels, the Iran deal, has made the world so much safer for democracy and that soon Iran and the U.S. will be best of friends, Iran has announced this not so friendly demand.

Iran is seeking "many billions of dollars" in payments from the United States in exchange for the release of several U.S. hostages still being detained in Iran, according to reports by Iran's state-controlled press that are reigniting debate over the Obama administration's decision earlier this year to pay Iran $1.7 billion in cash.

Senior Iranian officials, including the country's president, have been floating the possibility of further payments from the United States for months. Since the White House agreed to pay Tehran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year as part of a deal bound up in the release of American hostages, Iran has captured several more U.S. citizens.

Future payments to Iran could reach as much as $2 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter, who said that Iran is detaining U.S. citizens in Iran's notorious Evin prison where inmates are routinely tortured and abused.  (snip)

"We should wait and see, the U.S. will offer … many billions of dollars to release" American businessman Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer, who was abducted by Iran after the United States paid Iran the $1.7 billion, according to the country's Mashregh News outlet, which has close ties to the IRGC's intelligence apparatus.

Extortion and ransom are, needless to say, not indications of mutual friendship, but rather one party taking advantage of a lowly individual who so desperately wants or needs the other's friendship to prove himself.

And Obama needs to prove himself.  American withdrawal from Iraq was another Obama early foreign policy jewel that soon turned to broken glass as chaos, an Iranian takeover of the western part of the country, and terrorist ISIS replaced the Americans forcing an American return.

The Iran deal jewel has joined Obama's other worthless broken shiny objects.  Much more to come.