“Ali is thrilled and grateful for his release and return to his family”, said his attorney Lucius Outlaw, a federal public attorney, in an emailed statement.
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Iran has committed to continue cooperating with the United States to determine the whereabouts of Levinson, an unnamed U.S. official said in an email from the State Department.Although U.S. officials remain uncertain if Levinson is even still alive.
A fifth prisoner, identified by US officials as Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, decided not to leave Iran, senior White House officials said.
Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, detained in Iran for the past 18 months, is one of the three on board, AFP said.
A Washington Post reporter and three other Iranian Americans that had been detained in Iran were released and being flown to Switzerland on a Swiss plane, in an exchange between two countries that rely on Switzerland as the political intermediary.
Student Matthew Trevithick was also released in a move unrelated to the swap, USA officials said. The U.S. will also drop Interpol “red notices” – essentially arrest warrants – on a handful of Iranian fugitives it has sought.
Iran announced their release on Saturday, just hours before Tehran’s historic nuclear deal with world powers was implemented, in exchange for Washington pardoning seven Iranians accused of sanctions-busting or violating trade embargoes.
Ryan said the Post was “relieved that this 545-day nightmare for Jason and his family is finally over”.
The 67-year-old Levinson, who served for more than two decades with the Federal Bureau of Investigation before retiring, disappeared off Iran’s Kish Island in March 2007. He was arrested in Malaysia in 2012 in connection with the case, and the United States was seeking his extradition, according to the Justice Department.
“After almost a year and a half of arbitrary delays, and an unfair, opaque judicial process, Jason’s release has brought indescribable relief and joy to our family”, his brother, Ali Rezaian, said in the family statement.
The prisoner deal was the culmination of months of diplomatic contacts, secret talks and legal manoeuvring which came close to falling apart because of a threat by Washington in December to impose fresh sanctions on Iran for recent ballistic missile tests.
“Today is a good day for the Iranian people as sanctions will be lifted today”, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a statement. “We’ve all been watching this very closely for the time he’s been in prison and we’re just thrilled to hear he’s being released and so happy that he’s going to be coming back home to his friends and family”.
Six of them hold dual Iranian and American citizenship, and the seventh is an Iranian.
Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, said the news Saturday of his release “has been an answer to prayer”.
The secret talks were led by Brett McGurk, the US special envoy tapped by President Barack Obama to coordinate the global fight against the ISIS terrorist group, senior USA administration officials said. Iranian prosecutors had accused him of espionage, charges the Post had dismissed as “absurd”.
He went on to clarify, ” We believe the Iranians know where he is.
Androphy said the pardon covered Mechanich and Tooraj Faridi, both of Houston, and Khosro Afghahi of Los Angeles.
The Post reported that the flight out of Iran was delayed because Rezaian’s mother Mary and wife Yeganeh, who also were on the airplane, initially did not appear on the flight manifest.
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The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) named the other three men as Nader Madanloo, Arash Ghahreman and Nima Golestaneh. For example, one man was in jail for trying to sell satellite equipment to Iran.
