Americans Have Been Released By Iran; Some Have Left Country

Iran freed four Iranian-Americans, including a Washington Post reporter, under a prisoner swap with the US that was more than a year in the making and concluded just hours before a decade-long standoff with world powers over the country’s nuclear program formally ended. Three others were awaiting trial; the last one made a plea agreement.

Another official said that the exchange was a “one-time arrangement because it was an opportunity to bring Americans home”, and should not be considered something that would “encourage this behavior in the future” by Iran. “The world is safer because of this Iran nuclear agreement”.

The fourth man, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, about whom little is known, is not among them, a United States official said.

Matthew Trevithick, a student, was released after 40 days of detention at Evin Prison in Tehran, according to a statement from his parents.

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo released a statement today regarding Saeed’s release saying, “Iran’s holding of Pastor Abedini was outrageous and it was far past time for him to be released”.

“This is a good day, because once again we’re seeing what’s possible with strong American diplomacy”, President Barack Obama said in a speech Sunday.

The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month over the ballistic missile tests that violated a United Nations ban, Zarif warned Kerry the move could derail the prisoner deal, US officials told Reuters. 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.

Republican presidential candidates had slammed the Obama administration for striking the multinational nuclear deal with Iran while Americans were held captive. “These prisoners were held unjustly by a regime that continues to threaten the peace and security of the Middle East. Another American, Bob Levinson, still isn’t home with his family”. He also noted that differences between the USA and Iran remain, and pointed to new sanctions against Iran as evidence that the US will remain steadfast in opposing Iranian violations of worldwide agreements.

The biggest obstacle was whittling down the Iranians’ list of requests to something that was within “our principles and our standards”, Kerry said.

Kerry assured reporters that Iran had reduced its nuclear stockpile and taken out its centrifuges and supporting infrastructure.

Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission, wasn’t part of the deal. American officials are unsure if the former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent is even still alive.

The family of Hekmati, the former Marine taken captive in 2011, voiced thanks that his ailing father soon “will embrace his son once more”.

Iran has denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.

The attorney for one of the seven told CNN his client was pardoned along with two others indicted at the same time.

“He’s been incarcerated for nine months for a crime that he’s just accused of but did not commit”, said lawyer Joel Androphy. Mechanich, who was “elated” by the pardon, plans eventually return to Iran, where he has a business, Androphy said. The Justice Department accused the three of being “members of an Iranian procurement network operating in the United States”, according to a news release at the time of the April 2015 indictment.