A few hours ago, Iran and the United States achieved a significant diplomatic breakthrough after years of diplomatic tensions. Tehran freed five imprisoned Americans as part of an agreement with Washington, which involves the unlocking of 5.6 billion euros in Iranian funds and the release of five Iranian prisoners.
The pact was forged with the Qatar mediation and its capital, Doha, has been chosen by both parties as a meeting point for the exchange. Thus, this Monday four American men and one woman left Tehran on a chartered flight to Doha, where they were received by senior American officials, before finally return to his country.
The five prisoners had Iranian-American dual citizenship and were detained in different circumstances. Among them is the oil executive Siamak Prayer, who has spent eight years in prison; the environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who was accused of espionage while recording a documentary about endangered animals; either Mothers Shargi, who worked in the risk capital sector. She has not revealed the identity of the other two detainees. The United States insisted that the arrests They had a political background.
The American president, Joe Biden, celebrated that “five innocent Americans are finally returning home” after enduring “years of agony, uncertainty and suffering.” For its part, the United States released five Iranians detained on American soil. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani reported that two of the freed citizens will return to Iran, two others will remain in the United States and the fifth will join his family in a third country.
For his part, the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, avoided commenting on the pact with Washington and simply described the release of the detainees as “a purely humanitarian action.” “It certainly can be a step from which other humanitarian actions can be taken in the future,” he hinted to reporters in New York, where he will attend the UN General Assembly.