Iran prisoner exchange eases a notable irritant

Iran has released Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-American prisoners in an apparent prisoner swap with the US.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the last years of negotiations with Zarif that culminated in the July 14 deal, confirmed that the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy could verify that “Iran has fully implemented its required commitments”.

The official said the US government would be able to give more details about the Iranians who were granted pardons or clemency after the USA citizens had left Iran.

Rezaian, 39, a native of Marin County in California, had been held in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison for what Fars News Agency in Iran, citing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard report Saturday, said were his purported “attempts to help the U.S. Senate to advance its regime change plots in Iran”.

U.S. Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are welcoming the releases, and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the exchange shows “diplomacy can work even in this volatile region of the world”.

A White House source also told CBN News, Iran has committed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, who has been held in Iran since 2007.

Iranian, European and US officials have said repeatedly over the past week that IAEA certification and implementation of the agreement was just “days” away.

The announcement of the prisoner exchange coincided with an expected commencement Saturday of an global agreement to begin lifting sanctions against Iran in exchange for a limited dismantling of its nuclear program.

The four Americans released in Iran under the negotiated prisoner exchange were still in that country Sunday as arrangements progressed to get them out, said a senior Obama administration official. The Obama administration says the Americans come up in every conversation with the Iranians.

Once sentenced to death by an Iranian court, Amir Mirza Hekmati of MI appears to be on his way home after four years of captivity in Iran.

Hekmati was detained in 2011, weeks after arriving in Iran to visit his grandmother, according to his family’s website.

Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari: Little is known about the fourth United States citizen.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a Washington-based group dedicated to protecting religious and constitutional freedoms, reported that Abedini has endured torture during his imprisonment and was beaten by fellow prisoners in June.

Iran has denied holding him.

Iran and the nations of the world must understand that we will not leave behind any American who is in a foreign prison for simply standing up for a God given human right. The IAEA is also charged with monitoring the country’s program for years to come to ensure that Iran is not moving toward nuclear weapons production. They did not say why Iran detained him.

The release, originally reported by Iranian state media, has been confirmed by USA officials. The family suspects Levinson is being held in Iran despite Tehran’s claims to the contrary.

“They’re getting seven people, so essentially they get $150bn plus seven, and we get four”, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said at an event in New Hampshire, The Guardian reports. The Iranian state news agency listed them as: Nader Modanlo, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afghani, Arash Ghahreman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Saboun.