Iran, US Complete Prisoner Swap
He thanked the governments of Qatar, Oman, South Korea and Switzerland “for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome.”
Senior Biden administration officials told reporters the logistics of the swap involved a Qatari plane traveling from Iran to Doha carrying the five freed Americans, accompanied on the flight by Namazi's mother and Tahbaz's wife, who had been prevented from leaving Iran.
After the plane arrived in Doha, three of the released prisoners walked down the stairs and hugged the U.S. diplomats who greeted them, including U.S. ambassador to Qatar, Timmy Davis.
The White House said Biden had an emotional call with the families of the seven returning Americans and that all who joined the call spoke with the president.
From Doha, the group headed to Washington to be reunited with their families.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Monday's exchange could be “a step in the direction of a humanitarian action between us and America.”
Speaking to journalists at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he said, “It can definitely help in building trust.”
The United States and Iran on Monday carried out a high-stakes prisoner swap that included freeing five Americans the U.S. government says were unjustly detained by the Tehran government.
Three of the Americans in the swap were identified as Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, who along with the other two Americans were under house arrest pending their release. The identity of the other two individuals remained private at their families’ request.
The Biden administration officials said the Iranians who lacked legal status in the United States would return to Iran through Doha.
Ansari and Kafrani have no legal U.S. status. Afrasiabi and Hasanzadeh are permanent U.S. residents, while Kashani is an Iranian-American dual national.
Ansari and Kashani were serving federal prison sentences, while Afrasiabi, Hasanzadeh and Kafrani were on supervised pre-trial release.
The officials said in addition to the prisoner swap, the United States is issuing new sanctions under the Levinson Act as it calls on Iran to give a full account of what happened to Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran under mysterious circumstances in 2007 and is presumed dead.
Biden said, “The Levinson family deserves answers. 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 U.S. leader also issued a new warning to Americans to not travel to Iran. He said Americans who go to Iran and are arbitrarily arrested and detained should “have no expectation that their release can be secured.”
VOA News
