US residents Siamak Namazi (R-back), Emad Sharqi (L) and Morad Tahbaz (C) disembark from a Qatari jet upon their arrival on the Doha International Airport in Doha on September 18, 2023.
Karim Jaafar | Afp | Getty Images
President Joe Biden celebrated the discharge of 5 American prisoners from Iran on Monday.
“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” Biden said in a press release.
The discharge got here as world leaders gathered in Recent York this week for the annual high-level meetings of the United Nations General Assembly. Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, can be in attendance, as will Biden.
Siamak Namazi, who was released during a prisoner swap deal between U.S. and Iran, arrives at Doha International Airport, Qatar September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous
Mohammed Dabbous | Reuters
Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi and two unnamed residents were released Monday as a part of a deal that unfroze $6 billion of Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar and led to the discharge of 5 Iranians imprisoned in america. South Korea owed Iran, but had not paid, the cash for oil purchased before the U.S. imposed sanctions.
“For nearly eight years I actually have been dreaming of at the present time,” Namazi, who was imprisoned in 2015, said in a press release following his release.
“My ineffable joy of my forthcoming reunification with my family is laced with sorrow – a painful and deep feeling of guilt for taking my breaths in freedom while so many courageous individuals that I really like and admire proceed languishing behind those partitions,” Namazi said.
Biden thanked the emir of Qatar and the sultan of Oman for his or her assistance in facilitating the trade. He didn’t mention the $6 billion, nor did he praise Iranian leaders for his or her role within the swap. Quite the opposite, the president announced recent sanctions against Iran.
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the contract negotiations between the United Auto Staff and the Big 3 auto corporations, within the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2023. Biden sided with striking US auto employees on September 15, 2023, saying they’d not been given a good cut of record profits on the “Big Three” manufacturers. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
“Today, we’re sanctioning former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence under the Levinson Act for his or her involvement in wrongful detentions. And, we’ll proceed to impose costs on Iran for his or her provocative actions within the region,” he said.
The deal received pushback from Republicans who accused Biden of paying a “ransom” that they said would only encourage the taking of more Americans in the longer term.
“I’m all the time glad when Americans are released from captivity,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted on X, formerly Twitter, when the deal was announced last week. “Nevertheless, this agreement will entice rogue regimes, like Iran, to take much more Americans hostage. The ayatollah and his henchmen are terrorists and truly represent a terrorist state.”
Siamak Namazi and Morad Tahbaz, who were released during a prisoner swap deal between U.S. and Iran, arrive at Doha International Airport, Qatar September 18, 2023.Â
Mohammed Dabbous | Reuters
Former president Donald Trump also criticized the deal in a post on his Truth Social, saying “when you pay, you usually pay and plenty of more hostages can be taken.”
The White House has argued the deal shouldn’t be corresponding to a ransom because the cash, which is not American tax dollars, was already owed to Iran and could be overseen by Qatar, for use just for humanitarian purposes.
