NEWS
5 Americans Freed In Iran Prisoner Exchange Land In US
Courtesy of JakeSullivan46/X
Five U.S. citizens detained in Iran were freed Monday and landed in the Washington, D.C., area early Tuesday, where they will receive medical care and be reunited with their families, officials said.
The prisoner exchange negotiations have been underway for more than a year, with the Biden administration finally offering $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds along with five Iranian nationals held in the U.S.
Congress was officially notified last week that Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on sanctions waivers that would allow $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds to be transferred from restricted accounts in the Republic of Korea to restricted accounts in Qatar, which helped broker the deal, where they will “be available only for humanitarian trade.”
The detained Americans are Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two others who have not been identified. Namazi, Tahbaz, and Shargi, who have been detained for years, were released to house arrest in August, along with a fourth detainee. The fifth was already on house arrest, per reports.
Namazi, an Iranian-American oil executive, was first detained in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “collaboration with a hostile government” for his ties to the U.S. Shargi, a businessman, was first detained in 2018 and released, then arrested again in 2020 and sentenced to 10 years for espionage. Tabaz, an Iranian-American conservationist who also has British citizenship, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two citizens who wish to remain private will soon be reunited with their loved ones—after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful to our partners at home and abroad for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome, including the Governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland, and South Korea.”
Biden also called on Iran to give a “full account” of what happened to Bob Levinson, a former FBI agent said to have been abducted in Iran more than 16 years ago, and announced sanctions connected to his disappearance.
“The Levinson family deserves answers,” Biden said. “Today, we are sanctioning former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence under the Levinson Act for their involvement in wrongful detentions. And, we will continue to impose costs on Iran for their provocative actions in the region.”
The president reiterated the State Department’s longstanding warning to Americans not to travel to Iran.
“American passport holders should not travel there,” Biden said. “The U.S. State Department has a longstanding travel warning that states: ‘Do not travel to Iran due to the risk of kidnapping and the arbitrary arrest and detention of U.S. citizens.’ All Americans should heed those words and have no expectation that their release can be secured if they do not.”
The deal was criticized by Republican lawmakers, who argued it only rewards Iran for holding innocent Americans, and balloons the price the U.S. pays for such deals.
“The Americans held by Iran are innocent hostages who must be released immediately and unconditionally. However, I remain deeply concerned that the administration’s decision to waive sanctions to facilitate the transfer of $6 billion in funds for Iran, the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to conduct future hostage-taking,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said in a statement.
“It’s ridiculous for US to be blackmailed into paying $6B for hostages which will help indirectly finance the number 1 foreign policy of Iran: terrorism,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Last time it was $1.7B traded for hostages next time it will probably be $10B the price keeps going up & up.”
In a press briefing last week, National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby insisted the funds are “not a blank check,” and will be used for the Iranian people, not the regime.
“They don’t get to spend it any way they want. It’s not $6 billion all at once. They will have to make a request for withdrawals for humanitarian purposes only,” Kirby said.
TMX contributed to this article.
