This is a photo of Amir in 2009.
Advertisement
The exchange did not cover Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman who advocated better ties between Iran and the US and who reportedly was arrested in October, or former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007 on an unauthorized Central Intelligence Agency mission. “He is 67 years old, with several pressing health concerns including diabetes, hypertension and gout”.
Dareini reported from Tehran, Iran; Lee reported from Washington.
A former US Marine, he was visiting family in Iran in August 2011 when he was detained.
The reports of his release came as the Iranian foreign minister and world leaders gathered in Vienna Saturday to complete an agreement that would see nuclear-related sanctions on the country lifted.
The official report did not identify the prisoners, and US officials would not immediately confirm the announcement.
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. There were no additional details.
Little is known about Khosravi-Roodsari. A statement from a senior White House official did not name specific prisoners and provided only sparse details.
“We have no further information to share at this time and would ask that everyone respect the privacy of these individuals and their families”.
“We look forward to the joyous occasion of welcoming him back to the Washington Post newsroom”, publisher Frederick Ryan Jr. said in a statement.
The United States also agreed to release a number of Interpol “red notices” on Iranians wanted for crimes in the United States but not in US custody, the official said. The U.S.is returning seven Iranians accused or convicted of violating economic sanctions against Iran.
Iranian state television first announced the prisoner exchange on Saturday. Trevithick, who is from Hingham, Massachusetts, co-founded a research center based in Turkey that assesses the humanitarian crisis in the area and traveled to Iran in September for a four-month language program.
Six of them have dual…
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson praised the release of the prisoners, criticizing the nuclear deal but not the prisoner swap.
American officials didn’t want the citizens used as leverage in the nuclear talks, and didn’t want to lose their possible release if the talks failed to produce an agreement.
She said her brother was in Iran to visit an ailing grandmother and was assured before he went that his USA military service would not be an issue.
Zarif, Kerry said, made it clear that if they got the two tasks done, “there are ways to try to translate this and hopefully be constructive in other things”.
In addition to Rubio, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also slammed the developments, saying, “We shouldn’t have to swap prisoners…”
She added, “I will continue to pray for my husband’s release and advocate for him as he suffers in an Iranian prison for his Christian faith”.
The Post statement said the paper was “enormously grateful to all who played a role” in securing Rezaian’s release, and the paper thanked those “around the world who have spoken out on Jason’s behalf and against the harsh confinement that was so wrongly imposed upon him”. “But once again, Bob Levinson has been left behind”, the Levinson family said in a statement.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio – who last spring joined 20 other senators in penning a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry saying that the Obama administration should push for the prisoners’ release as part of the Iran nuclear deal’s negotiations – said at a town hall in Johnston, Iowa, that situation “tells us all we need to know about the Iranian regime”.
At 7 a.m., the State Department informed Naghmeh that Saeed was at the Swiss embassy waiting for their plane to depart to a US hospital in Germany.
The men had been involved in exporting products and services to Iran in violation of trade sanctions against the country.
Advertisement
The officials who briefed reporters denied that the negotiations were ever linked, even if they developed in tandem.
