Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day McConnell urges GOP senators to 'keep your powder dry' on Supreme Court vacancy McSally says current Senate should vote on Trump nominee MORE (R-Ariz.) on Thursday blasted the Obama administration’s $400 million cash payment to Iran as “leverage” for freeing U.S. prisoners there.

“The State Department’s acknowledgement that the Obama administration’s $400 million cash payment to Iran in January was contingent upon the release of American prisoners there confirms what was already obvious: that the Obama administration paid ransom to the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism and has been trying to deny it ever since,” he said in a statement.

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“And for the last two weeks, the administration has made a mockery of the United States’ long-held policy against paying ransoms and put Americans in danger in the process."

McCain said the move is the latest in a long line of the Obama administration’s foreign policy failures concerning Iran.

“The Obama administration manufactured and manipulated a narrative to sell the reckless Iran deal to the American people,” said McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It thanked Iran for its conduct in illegally detaining 10 American sailors in a flagrant violation of international law.”

“Only time will tell what embarrassing new lows the Obama administration will stoop to [to] curry favor with our enemies in Iran.”

The State Department on Thursday said it used $400 million earlier this year as partial “leverage” for securing the release of American prisoners in Iran.

Spokesman John Kirby said the negotiations over the total were conducted separately from talks concerning the captives.

Kirby did not deny the U.S. withheld the cash from Tehran until the three American prisoners left Iran, however.

“Because we had concerns that Iran may renege on the prisoner release ... [we] sought to retain maximum leverage until after the Americans were released,” he said.

“It would have been foolish, imprudent and irresponsible for us not to try to maintain maximum leverage. So, if you’re asking me, was there a connection in that regard in the end game? I’m not going to deny that.”

Both the White House and Secretary of State John Kerry John Forbes KerryThe Memo: Warning signs flash for Trump on debates Divided country, divided church TV ads favored Biden 2-1 in past month MORE have denied the cash was a ransom to secure the trio of prisoners' release.

The payment was part of a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve a dispute from an arms deal that originated in the 1970s.