Iran Releases Four Americans From Evin Prison

Wall Street Journal- Aug 10th2023

WASHINGTON—Iran has freed five Americans from a notorious Tehran prison with the understanding that five of its own prisoners and billions of dollars in frozen revenue from energy sales would be released in return, U.S. and Iranian officials said.

On Thursday, Tehran released four Americans into house arrest with the intention of allowing them to travel to the U.S. in the coming weeks. A fifth American was already under house arrest and is set to leave Iran with the other four.

“We will not rest until they are all back home in the United States,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement. The development followed months of intense, if quiet, diplomacy, brokered by the Swiss embassy in Tehran and two Gulf Arab states, officials said.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the U.N. said the two countries had agreed to “reciprocally release and pardon five prisoners.”

“The transfer of these prisoners to out of prison marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement,” the spokesman said in a statement.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said more than $10 billion would be released from accounts in South Korea and Iraq, and that under the agreement, the Americans wouldn’t be permitted to leave Iran until the funds become available in Iranian accounts in Qatar. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether this agreement was finalized.

However, a person familiar with the negotiations said that no Iranian prisoners held in the U.S. would be released until it is clear that the Americans will be allowed to leave Iran. Nor would Iran receive any of its oil revenues that have been frozen in South Korea because of U.S. sanctions—issues that remain under intense discussion, this person said.

Iranian officials have repeatedly tied the possible release of prisoners to access to billions of dollars held in Iraq for deliveries of gas and oil and $7 billion in Iranian funds held in South Korea after the Trump administration tightened sanctions on the country’s oil exports.

Those discussions to release the funds are ongoing, the person familiar with the negotiations said, but the outcome remains undecided. The U.S. Treasury Department is exploring ways to move those funds from the restricted account in Seoul, where they can’t be accessed, to a third country where they can be accessed for humanitarian purposes and other trade permitted under U.S. sanctions.

On Thursday, the family of one of the hostages, Siamak Namazi, received direct visual confirmation that Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz had been freed from Evin prison, the family’s attorney, Jared Genser, said. Those three men and a fourth unnamed American had been brought to the prison office and informed they would be released, he said. The families of the four American hostages had previously been informed by the Biden administration Wednesday afternoon that it was expected, he said.

Switzerland, which has represented U.S. diplomatic interests in Iran since Washington and Tehran cut ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been involved in the talks. The Swiss ambassador to Tehran will have full access to Americans under house arrest, according to the person familiar with negotiations. Qatar and Oman have also assisted in facilitating these negotiations, this person said.