They sat in Iranian prisons for years – now several US citizens are to be released after months of mediation. In return, Iranians from US custody could also return to their homeland.
According to information from Tehran, a prisoner exchange between the USA and Iran that has been planned for months will take place today. Iranian Foreign Office spokesman Nasser Kanaani said this to journalists. With the release of frozen Iranian assets from South Korea, the way for the deal is now clear.
Five Americans should therefore return to the USA. In return, the US pardoned five Iranians who had been convicted or charged there. It was initially not known whether the prisoners were already on their way.
The prisoner exchange has been prepared for months. The Gulf states of Oman and Qatar played a particularly important role in the negotiations. At the beginning of August, Iran had already placed the now released Americans under house arrest in a hotel in the capital Tehran. Now they could leave the country.
Concerned businessman and environmentalist
One of the most well-known of them is businessman Siamak Namasi, who holds both American and Iranian citizenship. He was imprisoned in 2015 and sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage. In 2018, environmentalist Morad Tahbas and businessman Emad Shargi were arrested. The identities of the other two US citizens who have now been released are not publicly known.
According to information from Tehran, the US justice system will release five convicted Iranians. According to reports in the USA, they are said to have tried, among other things, to circumvent international sanctions against Iran. An Iranian was also accused of industrial espionage. Another is said to have violated a law requiring “foreign representatives” to register in the United States. According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, two men will return to their homeland and another will fly to a third country. Two Iranians want to stay in the USA.
Tehran receives money
According to Tehran and Washington, the money that Iran is now supposed to have access to was exchanged by South Korea for euros in several tranches and transferred to Qatar. The Islamic Republic should be able to use the assets to purchase goods under supervision that are not affected by international sanctions. Due to the punitive measures, Iran is cut off from global payment transactions.
“Greatest Ransom payment of US history”
There had previously been a lot of criticism of the agreement with Tehran. Former US Vice President Mike Pence, for example, described the deal as the “largest ransom payment in American history.” Critics warned that Tehran could possibly use the billions of dollars for military purposes. The US government has tried to allay such concerns in recent weeks. She emphasized several times that the billions could only be used for humanitarian purposes – for example for medicine or food. It is not a ransom and not money from US taxpayers, but rather Iranian money that should only benefit the Iranian people and not Iran’s leadership. The US side also previously rejected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s claims that the money should flow into other areas, such as domestic production.
Iran repeatedly detains foreigners on charges of espionage or other national security violations. Human rights activists criticize the proceedings, which are often held behind closed doors, as unfair. The Islamic Republic is also accused of holding foreigners hostage. Several Germans are also imprisoned in Iran.
Historically bad relationships
The USA and Iran have not had diplomatic relations with each other for many years; relations between the two countries have been historically poor. Both states were repeatedly on the brink of war. In January 2020, the US killed the powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani in a drone strike in neighboring Iraq. Weeks of military tension followed.