10/8/2023-|Last update: 10/8/202308:58 PM (Mecca Time)
The New York Times said that the United States has reached an agreement with Iran to release 5 Americans and unfreeze funds for Tehran. It will also include the unfreezing of about $6 billion in Iranian oil revenues.
The newspaper added that the release of 5 prisoners of dual American and Iranian nationalities comes within the framework of the deal, which negotiations lasted about two years, and pointed out that the US administration will release Iranians imprisoned on charges of violating sanctions after allowing its citizens to leave Tehran.
The New York Times indicated that the released Americans are: Siamak Namazi, Imad Sharqi and Murad Tahbaz, in addition to a scientist and businessman.
And the French Press Agency reported that Iran had placed the released Americans under house arrest, according to what was reported by the family of one of them, which raises hopes of reaching an agreement that would allow them to leave the country.
The transfer of prisoners from “Evin” prison to a hotel in Tehran, according to what was announced by the defense lawyer.
A few days ago, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed the existence of indirect negotiations between US President Joe Biden’s administration and Tehran with the aim of releasing Americans detained in Iran.
Western countries accuse Tehran of blackmailing the West with this file, and of taking prisoners with dual nationalities as prisoners and hostages, in exchange for either lifting some sanctions or recovering the withheld funds.
During the past years, the Iranian authorities released some foreign detainees, in steps that coincided with the release of Iranians detained in foreign countries.
Despite their fewness, the prisoner exchange deals between the United States and Iran are often linked to the course of events that accompany them, especially with regard to the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file.
Every time a prisoner exchange deal between Iran and the United States is announced, statements about it are read with caution, and attention is paid to the context of events in the reality of the often tense relations between the two countries.
In mid-January 2016, the first deal took place between the two parties, in which they exchanged 5 American prisoners for 5 Iranians.
At that time, the world was new to the nuclear agreement reached in July 2015.
Although the administration of former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement after that and took a more rigid approach with Tehran, on September 7, 2019, it completed a new deal brokered by Switzerland, during which two prisoners were exchanged between the United States and Iran.
#agreement #Washington #Tehran #release #detained #Americans #unfreeze #Iranian #funds
2023-08-10 18:11:15
