[ad_1]
From left, Morad Tahbaz, Siamak Namazi, and Emad Sharghi walk away arm in arm from a Qatar Airways flight that brought them out of Tehran and to Doha, Qatar, September 18, 2023. /AP
From left, Morad Tahbaz, Siamak Namazi, and Emad Sharghi walk away arm in arm from a Qatar Airways flight that brought them out of Tehran and to Doha, Qatar, September 18, 2023. /AP
Five Americans freed from Iran made an emotional return to the United States on Tuesday, ending their imprisonment nightmare, a day after they were swapped for five Iranians held in the U.S. and the unfreezing of nearly $6 billion in Iranian funds.
Coming off the plane, the returning Americans were embraced by family and friends with smiles, laughs, and visible emotion, video footage from the airport showed.
The welcome ceremony followed a carefully choreographed exchange, agreed after months of Qatar-mediated talks, that was triggered on Monday when the funds that had been blocked in South Korea were wired, via Switzerland, to banks in Doha.
After the transfer was confirmed, the five U.S. prisoners plus two relatives took off on a Qatari plane from Tehran, at the same time as two of the five Iranian detainees landed in Doha on their way home. The other three Iranians chose not to go to Iran.
The freed Americans include U.S.-Iranian dual citizens Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Sharqi, 59, both businessmen, and Morad Tahbaz, 67, an environmentalist who also holds British nationality. The other two have not been publicly identified.
(With input from Reuters)
[ad_2]
Source link
