A charter plane left Tehran for Switzerland with the Americans – all four who had been detained, according to Iran state television, or only three, the USA said – as part of a prisoner swap.
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The Treasury Department’s sanctions, which had been prepared weeks ago but held back until after the four American prisoners in Iran were released, also targeted five Iranian individuals who US officials said had worked to secure ballistic weapon components for Iran.
USA student Matthew Trevithick was released independently of the exchange on Saturday and already was on his way home. Critics, unaware of the prisoner negotiations, accused the administration of caving on the missile sanctions to save the nuclear deal.
U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow co-sponsored a resolution in the U.S. Senate calling on Iran to release all the U.S. hostages being held in Iran, including Amir Hekmati.
In March past year, the eighth anniversary of Levinson’s disappearance, Secretary of State John Kerry called on Iran to step up efforts to investigate the case, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it would offer a $US5 million reward for information that could free him.
Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of prisoner Saeed Abedini, recalled telling her children Saturday their father was coming home. The IAEA is also charged with monitoring the country’s program for years to come to ensure that Iran is not moving toward nuclear weapons production.
A senior administration official said of Trevithick, “We wanted him, obviously, to be a direct part of this, and made clear to Iranians that [his release] would be an appropriate humanitarian gesture”.
Iran was known to be holding four Americans.
The United States also removed any Interpol red notices and dismissed any charges against 14 Iranians previously sought but not in USA custody, as part of the deal.
Saturday’s prisoner-release deals also raised the possibility that additional Americans may be locked up in Iran. The Post and the USA government have denied the accusations, as has Rezaian.
The family of Hekmati, who faced a death sentence as an alleged spy, spoke of their cautious optimism at news of his release. As well, a fifth American was freed separately. There are still many unknowns.
“Jason said he’d been able to read some of the coverage of his release on his mom’s iPad while on the plane to Germany”, Baron and Jehl added.
“We are relieved that this 545-day nightmare for Jason and his family is finally over”, Post publisher Frederick J. Ryan Jr. said in a statement.
Instead, he said, “I am pleased that our government did not sit idly by while an American citizen was persecuted overseas due to religious intolerance”.
Hekmati’s family wrote, in a statement posted on Facebook, that they “remain in hopeful anticipation”.
The men had been involved in exporting products and services to Iran in violation of trade sanctions against the country.
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Androphy said the pardon covered Mechanich and Tooraj Faridi, both of Houston, and Khosro Afghahi of Los Angeles. For example, one man was in jail for trying to sell satellite equipment to Iran.
