US prisoners free of Iran make emotional return dwelling after swap deal

Five Americans free of Iran made an emotional return to the United States on Tuesday ending their imprisonment “nightmare”, a day after they had been swapped for 5 Iranians held within the U.S. and the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds.

Coming off the airplane, the returning Americans had been embraced by household and buddies with smiles, laughs, and visual emotion, video footage from the airport confirmed. One of the returnees briefly waved a small Stars and Stripes handed to him.

“The nightmare is finally over,” mentioned Babak Namazi, talking together with his arm round his returning brother Siamak at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

The welcome ceremony adopted a fastidiously choreographed trade, agreed after months of Qatar-mediated talks, that was triggered on Monday when the funds that had been blocked in South Korea had been wired, through Switzerland, to banks in Doha.

After the switch was confirmed, the 5 US prisoners plus two kin took off on a Qatari airplane from Tehran, similtaneously two of the 5 Iranian detainees landed in Doha on their approach dwelling. Three Iranians selected to not go to Iran.

The deal removes a degree of friction between the United States, which manufacturers Tehran a sponsor of terrorism, and Iran, which calls Washington the “Great Satan”.

But it’s unclear whether or not it’s going to convey the 2 adversaries, which have been at odds for 40 years, nearer on another points, akin to Iran’s nuclear program and its backing for regional militias or the U.S. army presence within the Gulf and U.S. sanctions.

The freed Americans embody US-Iranian twin residents Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Sharqi, 59, each businessmen, and Morad Tahbaz, 67, an environmentalist who additionally holds British nationality. Two of them haven’t been publicly recognized.

‘HUMANITARIAN ACTION’

US President Joe Biden welcomed the return of the prisoners dwelling in a press release on Monday, however his administration additionally introduced recent US sanctions.

“We will continue to impose costs on Iran for their provocative actions in the region,” he mentioned.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was in New York for the annual UN General Assembly, referred to as the swap a humanitarian motion. “It can certainly be a step based upon which in the future other humanitarian actions can be taken,” he added.

Biden, a Democrat, has confronted criticism from Republicans over the deal. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a distinguished Republican, mentioned the switch of the $6 billion may encourage Iran to detain extra US residents.

Biden aides say the cash belongs to Iran and is being transferred from restricted South Korean accounts to restricted accounts in Qatar, which is able to monitor the money to make sure it’s spent on humanitarian items not objects beneath U.S. sanctions.

Relations between the United States and Iran have been particularly bitter since 2018 when then-President Donald Trump pulled out of a deal aimed toward curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and toughened US sanctions.

Washington suspects Iran’s nuclear program could also be aimed toward growing nuclear arms, a cost Iran denies.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the door open to nuclear diplomacy, however prompt nothing was imminent.

US analysts had been sceptical about prospects for progress, significantly with a US election looming in 2024.

“The prisoner swap does likely pave the way for additional diplomacy around the nuclear program this fall, although the prospect for actually reaching a deal is very remote,” mentioned Henry Rome of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Published On:

Sep 19, 2023