On Saturday morning, news broke that four Iranian Americans, including the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian, were released from Iran in a swap that saw the release of seven Iranian prisoners as well.
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“I’m personally happy they are free and I’m especially happy for Nagmeh Abedini”, said Pittenger, who spoke to us following a conversation with the wife of Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini, one of the four American citizens who had been imprisoned in Iran for more than three years.
In Washington, the State Department said clemency has been offered to seven Iranians, six of whom are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens, who had been convicted or were awaiting trial in the United States. Under the deal, the US will also drop efforts to extradite 14 Iranians for alleged involvement in the purchase of arms from the U.S.to Iran, Iranian Prosecutor Abbas Jaafari told Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency. Those released include Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari.
Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati of Flint, Michigan.
As the nuclear negotiations continued, Rezaian languished in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. “The Iranians know where he is, or we believe they do”.
Robert Levinson, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and DEA agent, who disappeared in Iran since 2007, was not among those released by Iran, according to the list of names broadcast by Iranian television.
FILE – In this June 2, 2015 file photo, Naghmeh Abedini holds a necklace with a photograph of her husband, Saeed Abedini, on Capitol Hill in Washington. At time of arrest, was running an orphanage in Iran.-Siamak Namazi, a businessman and the son of a politician from the shah’s era.
The release of the prisoners and the nuclear deal developments capped weeks of intense U.S.-Iran diplomacy that took several unexpected turns after an Iranian ballistic missile test in October and then the detention on January 12 by Iran of 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two boats in the Persian Gulf. “I am now taking time off to heal and to rest and to spend much needed time with my kids”, she told The Statesman in November.
As president, she said, her approach to Iran would be to “distrust and verify” while enforcing the nuclear deal.
“When you’re dealing with Iran you have to be careful because tigers don’t change their stripes overnight”, Leighton said.
Executives from 25 news organizations urged Secretary of State John Kerry to push Tehran for Rezaian’s release in a letter this month.
Republican presidential candidates have frequently blasted President Barack Obama for his handling of Iran’s custody of American prisoners. His freeing and that of the other Americans ends a gross injustice.
Hekmati, 32, had been held in an Iranian prison since August 29, 2011.
A fifth American, identified as Matthew Trevitick, was also to be released but as part of a different process.
Iran’s foreign minister says an imminent compliance report by the United Nations nuclear agency will trigger the implementation of the historic nuclear accord reached with world powers previous year, bringing a “good day” for Iran.
Reporter: The release of the American prisoners comes just as the nuclear deal with Iran goes into effect, lifting sanctions and making tens of billions of dollars available to the Iranian government.
And Kerry linked the trust built between Iran and the United States over the past two years of talks to the breakthrough release by Iran Saturday of four Americans who also hold Iranian nationality.
The official said that the “Iranians wanted a goodwill gesture” as part of the release, and that led to the exchange.
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The IRNA named the seven being freed from US jails as Nader Modanlo, Bahram Mechanic, Khosrow Afghani, Arash Ghahreman, Tooraj Faridi, Nima Golestaneh and Ali Saboun.
