‘Semper Fi’: Freed from Iranian Prison, Amir Hekmati Speaks

“Even the other Iranian prisoners were moved”.

Bryon Wilfert, a former MP and foreign affairs critic when Dion was opposition leader, said he is optimistic about thawing relations with Iran. A fifth US citizen, Matthew Trevithick, was released separately, officials said.

Hekmati, 32, spent more than 4 years in an Iranian prison after being charged with espionage while visiting relatives there.

“I want everyone to know that I’m feeling fine, and I feel lucky to be here at a place where I can get such terrific care”, he said, thanking medical staff and the Swiss diplomats who helped oversee his release. “The hospitality. Chocolates. Veal was served”.

STAFF/REUTERS Amir Hekmati (center), flanked by U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee (l.) and brother-in-law Ramy Kurdi, speaks with media in Landstuhl, Germany, on Tuesday for the first time since his release.

Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter, also was undergoing medical tests at the USA military hospital after nearly 18 months in an Iranian prison.

A Swiss plane took Hekmati along with Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief and Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, as well as some family members, from Tehran to Geneva on Sunday.

“I was at a point where I had just sort of accepted the fact that I was going to be spending ten years in prison, so this was a surprise and I feel extremely blessed to see my government do so much for me”, he said.

“But then when I got back together with my counterparts, we kind of went back to square one and the whole process broke down”, McGurk said.

The reporter and his employer have always firmly denied Iranian allegations that he was a USA spy, but he was convicted in a secret court and only freed after the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. After a retrial, he was given 10 years on a lesser charge.

“He’s trying to catch up on what’s been going on in the world”, Ali said. The deal was concluded as the US and other western nations prepared to lift sanctions on Iran for agreeing to limit its nuclear program and agree to regular inspections.

On a regional level, Iran plays a central role in supporting Syria’s government and could have important sway in any U.S.-backed political settlement to end the more than five-year crisis. The long wait to finally leave Iran was agonizing.

Last week, State Department officials credited Secretary of State John Kerry’s direct talks with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, as key to quickly working out the release of 10 U.S. sailors detained after two small U.S. Navy riverine boats strayed into Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. Canceling the Interpol red notices against Hamid Arabnejad and Gholamreza Mahmoudi, two executives with Iran’s privately owned Mahan Air, will make it easier for the airline to ferry arms and troops to Syria in support of Assad. He did not elaborate but said he will disclose details “about the experience and what happened” later.