Hekmati says he feels lucky after Iran prisoner swap release

“I did not relax until we were out of Iranian airspace”, Hekmati said in the CNN report. “Having my fellow Marines support me gave me the strength to put up with over four years of some very hard times that me and my family went through”, says Hekmati.

Hekmati did not elaborate on his four-and-a-half years in prison, but when asked how he was feeling, he responded, “I am well, and I’m only going to get better, I hope”.

The deal between Washington and Tehran came under criticism from many Republican presidential contenders, but Hekmati said he was grateful to the president for agreeing to the swap after years of efforts to free the men.

Kildee said Tuesday he received a message from Hekmati’s older sister, Sarah, during Monday’s press event with his fellow representatives, asking the congressman to join the family in its reunion with Hekmati.

Hekmati and the two other freed prisoners at Landstuhl are voluntarily undergoing a battery of medical tests and psychological evaluations, a process that can take five to 10 days. An American student who was freed separately, Matthew Trevithick, 30, flew out Saturday on his own. He was found guilty past year and sentenced to a prison term, but the secretive court disclosed neither the specific charges on which he was convicted nor the length of the term.

Rezaian said he had limited human interaction during his 18 months in prison, including spending 49 days in solitary confinement.

“He didn’t know he was coming home until the day before”, Kildee said.

Hekmati was released from Iran over the weekend after he was taken into custody by Iranian authorities in August 2011.

In addition to encouraging Iran’s practice of capturing and imprisoning American citizens on politically-driven charges, the deal to release Rezaian and the other US captives will likely strengthen Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Josh Rogin reported Sunday for Bloomberg View.

“We talked a bit about his experience, but I think he was just appreciating his freedom and trying to enjoy it as much as he could”, Kildee said.

“It’s individual and it can go as fast or as slow as the individual is ready to make it”, Kirby said. Rubin pointed out that the history of engaging Iranians to negotiate the release American captives simply encourages more hostage-taking.

It is not clear when and he will be reunited with his family.

In a telephone call with the Post’s editors before they were able to meet Monday, Jason Rezaian said that isolation was the most hard part of his time in prison.

“We talked about a few of the aspects of his incarceration, (he) described the prison conditions as being bleak as we know them to be by reputation, described the fact that he had been told he was going to be released on several occasions, so even when this moment came he wasn’t sure it was really true until he was at the airport”, he said.

“I feel really lucky”. His brother-in-law, sisters and Michigan Congressman Daniel Kildee visited Hekmati at the German hospital.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that US officials believe Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission, may no longer be in that country.