Iran frees 5 Americans in prisoner swap with US
A US-bound flight carrying a group of American detainees including Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Shargi left Iran on Monday.
NEW YORK — Iran has freed five Americans as part of a prisoner exchange between the two longtime adversaries that also saw Tehran gain limited access to $6 billion in frozen funds.
“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” President Joe Biden said in a statement, which thanked the governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland and South Korea for their involvement.
Biden added that the Americans “will soon be reunited with their loved ones — after enduring years of agony, uncertainty and suffering.”
The US prisoners boarded a Qatari plane that took off from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport on Monday afternoon local time. They were greeted by US officials during a brief stopover in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and will be flown to the Fort Belvoir Army base in northern Virginia. There, they will be reunited with their families, who spoke with Biden by phone Monday morning.
