Five Americans are on Their Way to the U.S. in Exchange for Iran’s Freeze and Access to $6 billion in Oil Revenues

Five Americans who have been held in Iran for years are on their way to the United States in return for Iranians released from U.S. custody and Tehran’s access to $6 billion in frozen oil revenues, according to a senior U.S. official.

An Iranian scientist who was accused of violating trade sanctions by the Trump administration got released to free a graduate student who was in Iran for three years. The Iranian American released by Trump was accused of violating sanctions and had been held in Iran for two years.

Most of the Iranian nationals freed by the U.S. were arrested for violating the terms of their visas while in the U.S.

The White House says the money came from Iran in the first place, and the Treasury Department will keep a close watch on how Iran spends it.

Five Iranians and Iranian Americans are being granted clemency by the U.S. because they were charged with violating sanctions laws. According to previous reporting by the Associated Press, one, Mehrdad Ansari, is an Iranian sentenced to 63 months in prison for obtaining equipment that could be used in missiles or nuclear weapons. Kambiz Attar Kashani sentenced to 30 months in prison for buying high tech electronic gear is an Iranian American. Some of them also have U.S. citizenship and may be allowed to stay in the U.S.

Prominent Republicans disagree with the deal — including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas, who said it “creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to conduct future hostage-taking.”

Meanwhile, the administration has stressed the importance of getting unlawfully detained Americans back home and says it has not lifted any sanctions on Iran as part of the agreement.

In 1981 Iran freed 52 hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in return for sanctions being lifted.

The new prisoner swap takes place as there have been contradictory signs about the U.S.-Iran relationship. Iran released Baquer, Siamak’s father, in October. He was held for a long time when he tried to help his son.

The production of nuclear fuel by Iran accelerated after the White House withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

The U.S. ships pass through the Persian Gulf and Iran harassed them, so the Pentagon sent thousands of sailors and Marines to protect them. In a background briefing Sunday night, a senior U.S. official said the prisoner agreement was not an opening for new indirect talks with Iran but removes an obstacle to eventually resuming talks.

The former prisoners cried and hugged their friends and families at the airport after years of separation. They reached the U.S. after being flown out of Tehran.

After landing, the released prisoners and their loved ones stood together for a photo, yelling “Freedom!” According to the AP. Two relatives of the prisoners, who were previously forbidden from traveling, were included in the group.

A Canadian citizen sentenced to 63 months in prison for his part in a 2021 project to acquire nuclear lab equipment enforcing nuclear sanctions and electronic warfare

“What I want more than anything is the assurance that no one else will ever know the torment I and my family went through,” he said. “But sadly, many are suffering those miseries right now.”

The exchange of money and prisoners has been criticized, especially by President Biden’s political opponents who say he is rewarding Iran’s provocative detentions of U.S. citizens.

“This money belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. “And naturally, we will decide, the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide, to spend it wherever we need it.”

Mehrdad Moein Ansari, a resident of the United Arab Emirates and Germany who was sentenced in 2021 to 63 months in prison for his part in a plan to obtain equipment that could be used in a variety of sensitive applications, from nuclear weapons and missile guidance to secure communications and electronic warfare.

A Canadian national is charged with buying at least three mass spectrometers and other lab equipment that is under sanctions and nuclear nonproliferation controls. The Justice Department says he brought the gear to be shipped to Canada, the UAE, and then to Iran.

The US government indicted the political scientist and author in October of 2021 for working as an agent for Iran. The Justice Department said that Afrasiabi was on the payroll of Iran’s mission to the U.N., but he was a neutral expert on Iran.