Obama touts Iranian nuclear deal, prisoner swap

She is a correspondent for The National, a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates.

A plane carrying American prisoners released from Iranian detention as part of a prisoner swap deal between Tehran and Washington is “about to take off”, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told CNN.

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.

According to the IAEA, Amano will discuss the IAEA’s role in verifying and monitoring Iran’s nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, aka nuclear deal) with Iranian officials.

Iran and the European Union have agreed that Tehran has kept its nuclear promises under an agreement reached in July.

The U.S. would not immediately confirm the Iranian report.

“It will be like Ronald Reagan, where as soon as he took office, the hostages were released from Iran”, Rubio said. After his arrest, family members say they were told to keep the matter quiet.

Matthew Trevithick, the fifth American citizen released by Iran in what US officials called a “goodwill gesture”, has already left the country.

The worldwide sanctions imposed on Iran with regard to its nuclear program have been removed as the JCPOA entered the implementation phase on January 16. Six of them hold dual Iranian and American citizenship, and the seventh is an Iranian.

The Islamic Republic News Agency identified the seven being freed from USA jails as Nader Modanlo, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afghahi, Arash Ghahreman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Saboun.

Most of those held by the United States, The Wall Street Journal noted, “were tied to violations of US export laws and the sales of dual-use equipment that could be used in Iran’s military or nuclear program”.

USA officials stressed that the Americans were a priority.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported earlier that Rezaian and his wife Yeganeh Salehi had left Iran.

We are awaiting confirmation from the State Department.

Prosecutors asked to drop charges against Alireza Moazami Goudarzi, who was charged in 2012 with trying to purchase aircraft parts from a USA supplier for shipment to Iran.

Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati of Flint, Michigan, was detained in August 2011 on espionage charges. He was sentenced to death on the charge of working for an enemy country. After a higher court ordered a retrial, he was sentenced in 2014 to 10 years on a lesser charge. “But I’ve not been formally informed if he is free now”, he said, adding that negotiations for the prisoners’ release has been going on for the past two months. He is now serving a two-year sentence in Virginia and had been due to be released in November 2016. Abedini was previously arrested in 2009 and released after promising to stop organizing churches in homes. “Every time we show weakness it is a victory for Iran”. Hekmati went to Iran to visit family and spend time with his ailing grandmother. “We look forward to the joyous occasion of welcoming him back to the Washington Post newsroom”. After almost a year and a half of arbitrary delays, and an unfair, opaque judicial process, Jason’s release has brought indescribable relief and joy to our family – this nightmare is approaching an end. There are still many unknowns.