White House officials said earlier Sunday that recently detained student Matthew Trevithick also was released – but not as part of the prisoner swap – and had left Iran.
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“As many of you know, Amir’s father is very ill and soon he will embrace his son once more”, the family statement said.
“Yes, the plane has left”, A USA official told Reuters.
Obama spoke as the Americans were on their way to Switzerland, a day after their release as part of a prisoner swap.
Along with Abedini, those released include Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, whose name had not been previously made public.
“Those who wished to depart Iran have left”, according to a senior USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter and privacy concerns for the families.
The senator said the decision of the Obama administration to exchange Cuban prisoners for the release of American Alan Gross, and the decision to release Taliban prisoners in exchange for soldier Bowe Bergdahl, were encouragement for people to take Americans hostage as prisoners.
The naturalized US citizen, who lived in Potomac, Maryland, was convicted in 2013 of conspiring to illegally provide satellite services to Iran, federal officials said at the time.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Marc Crevoisier confirmed the plane had been carrying the three freed prisoners and said he believed they had already departed for Germany.
In return, the U.S.is pardoning or commuting the sentences of an Iranian and six dual citizens.
The lifting of sanctions and the prisoner deal considerably reduce the hostility between Tehran and Washington that has shaped the Middle East since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The wife of pastor Saeed Abedini, Naghmeh Abedini, tweeted Sunday morning that her husband “finally made it out of Iranian soil”.
The journalist’s brother, Ali Rezaian, said Jason Rezaian is a talented journalist and devoted family man “whose life was unfairly interrupted when he was arrested for crimes he did not commit”.
“Now I have to see what the deal is for the four people, because someone said they were getting seven back”. “It was part of the agreement, it was clearly stated”.
“We celebrate all of them coming home”. These U.S. military microelectronics and power supplies were sent to an Iranian company that then sold the products to various customers, including sanctioned Iranian government agencies.
The deal came after more than a year of secret negotiations, the officials said. “And all of us are relieved”, New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet told HuffPost.
Marco Rubio continued to slam the Obama administration on Sunday for its dealing with the Iranian government in order to secure the release of five imprisoned Americans.
Zarif, he said, indicated that if they got the two tasks done, “There are ways to try to translate this and hopefully be constructive in other things”.
Saboonchi had been convicted of unlawfully exporting goods to Iran in violation of global sanctions and was serving a 2-year sentence.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee told reporters in Flint that he’s joining relatives of Amir Hekmati and can’t wait to meet him in person.
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This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson who went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007 and Levinson’s family received these photographs of him in April 2011. He had been detained since July 2014 when Iranian security forces raided his home and seized his wife and him.
