A plane left Doha on Monday, the 18th of September, bound for the US with five freed Americans in exchange for five freed Iranians and a transfer of six billion dollars from South Korea in Iranian funds, in a rare deal between the long-standing rivals, reports Reuters.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the release of five Americans imprisoned in Iran, stating that they are innocent and finally coming home. The prisoners arrived in Doha, where they were greeted by US diplomats.
The White House had earlier confirmed that the plane carrying the five released Americans and two of their family members was heading to the US to receive medical treatment and adjust to freedom. Meabwhile, Iran’s Press TV reported that five Iranians detained in the US have been released, two of whom have landed in Tehran and the others will not return to Iran.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, during his visit to New York for the annual UN General Assembly meeting,
described the prisoner exchange as a humanitarian act,
stressing that it could be a step towards similar actions in the future.
It remains unclear whether this exchange will lead to progress on the various issues dividing the two countries, such as Iran’s nuclear programme, regional support for Shi’ite militants, the presence of US troops in the Persian Gulf and US sanctions against Iran.
Some US analysts expressed scepticism about the likelihood of progress on nuclear or other issues, pointing out that while a prisoner swap could facilitate diplomatic talks on the nuclear programme, the chances of an actual agreement are slim.
Iranian-US businessmen with dual Iranian-US citizenship, Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharqi and an environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who also holds British citizenship, came to the US from Iran. The identities of the fourth and fifth US citizens were not disclosed as they wished to remain anonymous. Iran, on the other hand, named all five Iranian nationals released by the US, namely Mehrdad Moin-Ansari, Kambiz Attar-Kashani, Reza Sarhangpour-Kafrani, Amin Hassanzadeh and Kaveh Afrasiabi.
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