According to a new report, the United States and Iran have come to an arrangement that will liberate five Americans who are now detained in exchange for the release of numerous Iranians who are detained and the unfreezing of around $6 billion in Iranian oil earnings.
According to the attorney for one of the inmates, Iran has freed five dual citizens who are Iranian and Americans into house detention as a first step in the arrangement, which follows more than two years of covert discussions.
The inmates include two more whose families suppressed their identities and Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, and Morad Tahbaz, who had all been detained on fictitious allegations of spying.
Two persons informed on the release’s preparations said that one of the anonymous Americans is a scientist and the other is a businessman.
According to Jared Genser, Mr. Namazi’s attorney, the three indicted prisoners and one other person were moved from Evin Prison, one of Iran’s most notorious prisons, to a hotel in Tehran on Thursday. They will remain there for a few weeks before being allowed to board an airplane.
According to many persons acquainted with the plans, one other prisoner—an American woman—had already been released into house arrest.
Officials from the Biden administration declined to disclose or confirm specifics of what Iran will receive in return.
But according to some who are acquainted with the deal, the Biden administration would free a few Iranian citizens who are currently serving jail terms for breaking sanctions on Iran once the Americans are permitted to return home.
According to two Iranians close to the regime who were involved with the plan, the prisoner swap deal was almost finished in March but was put on hold when Iran imprisoned one of the unidentified U.S. dual citizens.
The two Iranians said that Iran originally opposed the United States’ demand that the prisoner be included.
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