The United States and Iran have agreed to release five American prisoners in exchange for the detention of a number of Iranians and access to approximately $6 billion in Iranian oil money in the future.
According to State Department and National Security Council sources, Iran has freed five Iranian American dual citizens into house detention as a first step in the arrangement, which comes after more than two years of covert negotiations.
Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, and Morad Tahbaz were all imprisoned on spurious spying claims, as were two more whose families suppressed their names.
According to two sources briefed on the release’s arrangements, one of the anonymous Americans is a scientist and the other is a businessman.
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, the country’s capital, on Thursday.
According to Jared Genser, Mr. Namazi’s attorney, they will be held there for a few weeks before being allowed to board an airplane.
According to multiple sources acquainted with the arrangements who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the final agreement, one other prisoner, an American lady, had already been freed into house arrest.
