Iran announces release of dual-nationality prisoners

Senator Gary Peters said in a statement, “The imprisonment of Amir and the other USA citizens held captive by Iran was unjust”. Their release was announced Saturday, the same day sanctions against Iran were lifted as part of its nuclear deal.

“We can confirm that our detained USA citizens have been released and that those who wished to depart Iran have left”, a senior administration official said.

Earlier Saturday, Iranian Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a series of meetings with his European Union and U.S. counterparts – including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry – on implementing the accord.

– Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, released from Iranian detention under a prisoner swap agreement between Tehran and Washington, has left the country along with his wife, the newspaper’s publisher says. The U.S. will also drop Interpol “red notices” – essentially arrest warrants – on a handful of Iranian fugitives it has sought.

The sentence was overturned, but a second secret trial was held and Hekmati received 10 years in prison.

While the nuclear and prisoner issues were not formally linked, Kerry made it clear that diplomatic moves on one front spurred progress on the other.

“Kuwait and Sudan have broken off relations with Iran and we should form a strategic alliance with them instead of dealing with the [Iranian] regime”, he told us, “Right now, the way we’re dealing with them, we’re going down the same road we did with North Korea-trusting them to honor their promise not to develop a nuclear bomb”.

Although he opposed the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers group since it was signed previous year, presidential hopeful Ted Cruz celebrated the release of Abedini on Twitter.

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency named the other three men as Nader Madanloo, Arash Ghahreman and Nima Golestaneh.

Rezaian grew up in Terra Linda and is a dual citizen of Iran and the U.S. Held on suspicion of being a spy, Rezaian suffered health problems, lost 40 lbs., and was growing depressed, according to his mother.

Still a mystery is the fate of Levinson, a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who has not been heard from since he disappeared on Iran’s Kish Island in 2007.

A fifth American, released separately, is already on his way home.

Rezaian, who has covered Iran for the Post since 2012, grew up in Marin County, California, and spent most of his life in the United States. In November, he was sentenced to more than 15 months in prison.

Iran has denied holding him.

As of Saturday morning, Naghmeh Abedini said she didn’t have a time line of when her husband would be back in the U.S.

The statement by the Post said the paper was “enormously grateful to all who played a role” in securing Rezaian’s release, thanking those “around the world who have spoken out on Jason’s behalf and against the harsh confinement that was so wrongly imposed upon him”. “At this point, we are hoping and praying for Amir’s long-awaited return”. “There are still many unknowns”. It didn’t provide any further details. “And in fact some of them weren’t even charged”, Rubio said in the interview.

“He’s been incarcerated for nine months for a crime that he’s just accused of but did not commit”, said lawyer Joel Androphy. The Justice Department uses the spelling of “Mechanic” in court filings.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.

“Considering how little value the Ministry of Intelligence places on my Iranian citizenship and passport, I, too, place little value on them and inform you, effectively that I formally renounce my Iranian citizenship and passport”.