Five US nationals held in Iran ‘will be released TODAY’ in prisoner exchange and board a plane once $6billion in frozen funds are released
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the assets frozen in South Korea would be in Iran’s possession on Monday, leading to the exchange of five US citizens held in Iran for five Iranians held in Iran. were held in the US.
Under the carefully choreographed deal, the five dual-citizen Americans, including one with British citizenship, are expected to leave Tehran for Qatar.
If it is confirmed that the money was transferred from South Korea to Switzerland and then to Qatar, this will trigger the release of the prisoners, reports NBC News.
Businessman Emad Shargi (left) and British-born environmentalist Morad Tahbaz are two of the US citizens transferred from prison to house arrest ahead of a possible deal
The transfer of Iranian funds has drawn criticism from Republicans who say President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is essentially paying ransoms for American citizens. The White House has defended the deal.
The deal, first made public on August 10, will ease a major irritant between Washington and Tehran, although the two sides differ deeply on issues ranging from Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its influence in the region to U.S. sanctions and the US military presence in the region. the wave.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry had said on Monday that it was working with all parties on the deal “to ensure smooth conduct of all procedures so that it will be resolved once and for all.”
The money has been held at the Korean Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank since 2019, when a sanctions waiver over oil imports expired.
The US dual citizens released include Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Sharqi, 59, both businessmen, and Morad Tahbaz, 67, an environmental activist who is also a British national. They were released from prison last month and placed under house arrest.
Namazi, an oil executive, was arrested in 2015 and later sentenced to 10 years for “collaboration with a hostile government” thanks to his ties to the US.
Sharqi was arrested for an undisclosed reason in 2018, released, and then arrested again in 2020. Shortly after his second arrest, Sharqi was sentenced to 10 years on espionage charges.
A view of the entrance to Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, where the Americans were being held
Republicans condemned the Biden administration for paying ransoms for Americans
Meanwhile, Tahbaz was sentenced to 10 years on similar charges in 2018.
A fourth US citizen was also placed under house arrest, while a fifth was already under house arrest. Their identities have not been revealed.
Iranian officials have named the five Iranians to be released by the US as Mehrdad Moin-Ansari, Kambiz Attar-Kashani, Reza Sarhangpour-Kafrani, Amin Hassanzadeh and Kaveh Afrasiabi.
Moin-Ansari and Kashani have served federal prison sentences, while others have been released on supervised release ahead of trial.
Two Iranian officials said Afrasiabi would remain in the United States.
As a first step in the deal, Washington waived sanctions to allow the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar. The funds had been blocked in South Korea, normally one of Iran’s biggest oil customers, due to US sanctions.
Under the agreement, Doha agreed to monitor how Iran spends the funds to ensure the country gets access to non-sanctioned humanitarian goods such as food and medicine.
Ties between Washington and Tehran have been boiling since Donald Trump, a Republican, pulled the US out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers when he was president in 2018. Reaching a new nuclear deal has gained little traction since then, while Biden prepares for the 2024 US elections.