It's taken 37 years for the State Department to realize that Iran is a gangster state that regularly seizes American citizens on trumped up espionage charges only to release them for some material gain – including, as we've seen recently, ransom.

Now the diplomats are warning Americans not to travel to Iran because the regime has made it a top priority to capture U.S. citizens.

I'm sure the ransom payment to Iran early this year to get our people back and this latest warning are a total coincidence, right?

Washington Free Beacon:

The travel warning is meant to “highlight the risk of arrest and detention of U.S. citizens, particularly dual national Iranian-Americans,” according to a State Department announcement on Monday. “Foreigners, in particular dual nationals of Iran and Western countries including the United States, continue to be detained or prevented from leaving Iran.”

“U.S. citizens traveling to Iran should very carefully weigh the risks of travel and consider postponing their travel,” the warning adds. “U.S. citizens residing in Iran should closely follow media reports, monitor local conditions, and evaluate the risks of remaining in the country.”

Iran continues to imprison Americans, particularly those holding dual Iranian citizenship, according to the State Department.

“Iranian authorities have detained and harassed U.S. citizens, particularly those of Iranian origin,” the travel warning states. “Former Muslims who have converted to other religions, religious activists, and persons who encourage Muslims to convert are subject to arrest and prosecution.”

The Obama administration expressed particular concern about commercial airlines doing business with Iran. This warning comes as American companies such as Boeing continue to pursue million-dollar business deals with the Islamic Republic.

“The U.S. government is concerned about the risks to civil aircraft operating into, out of, within, or over Iran due to hazards from military activity associated with the conflicts in Iraq and Syria,” the warning states. “The FAA has advised U.S. civil aviation to exercise caution when flying into, out of, within, or over the airspace over Iran.”

The warning emphasizes that “the U.S. government’s ability to assist U.S. citizens in Iran in the event of an emergency is extremely limited.”

The coming influx of American businessmen looking to initiate commercial ties with Iran now that the sanctions are lifted must have dollar signs dancing in front of the eyes of Iranian authorities.  This will be Obama's major foreign policy legacy: an opening to Iran so one-sided and so dangerous that the government has been forced to advise Americans not to travel to that country.

The administration continues to insist that the ransom wasn't a ransom.  Allow them their delusions.  Everyone on the planet who has two working brain cells knows differently.  The precedent set by this bumbling fool of a president will have reprecussions everywhere that Americans are at risk of being kidnapped and held for ransom.