Iran has reached a deal with the United States to free five detained Americans in exchange for Washington releasing jailed Iranians and giving Tehran access to a $6 billion fund that has been blocked.
The agreement's first step comes after more than two years of silent negotiations and has Iran freeing five Iranian American dual citizens into house arrest. In a statement on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the development is just the beginning of a process that he hopes and expects will result in the men's return to American territory.
Iran, US Agree on Prisoner Swap
However, Blinken said that more work still needs to be done to bring the five Americans home. He added that he believes that this is the beginning of the end of the detained individuals' nightmare.
The five prisoners were identified as Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, and Morad Tahbaz, who were detained on unsubstantiated spying charges. They are joined by two others whose families withheld their names, as per the New York Times.
Two people briefed on the release arrangements said that one of the unnamed Americans is a scientist, and the other is a businessman. On the other hand, the three named prisoners and one other individual were all transferred from Evin Prison on Thursday to a hotel in Tehran. The prison is considered one of the most notorious detention centers in the country.
In a statement, Jared Genser, the lawyer for Namazi, said they would stay at the hotel for several weeks until they were given the freedom to board an airplane. Another prisoner, identified as an American woman, was released into house arrest earlier.
Genser also said that while he hopes the development will be the first step into the detainees' ultimate release, at best, this is just the beginning of the end. However, he argued that there are no guarantees about what would happen from here on out.
Giving Iran Access to a $6 Billion Fund
The roughly $6 billion fund that will be open to Iran is currently stored in a restricted bank account in South Korea. A CBS News source said that the agreement would be considered complete after the detained Americans are back on U.S. soil, which some officials expect could come as soon as September, according to CBS News.
Following the deal, the money will be transferred to a bank account in a third country in the next few weeks, and Iran is set to gain access to it. Officials from two Western-allied nations said that Qatar is the one that would hold the funds in restricted accounts.
The agreement comes after months of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the detained Americans. It also marks a rare optimistic development in the two countries relationship, which has been marred by deep distrust and the recent failure to revive a nuclear deal that Biden committed to renewing during his campaign for U.S. president, said the Washington Post.
