Doha, Qatar—— Five prisoners the United States is seeking to swap with Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday as part of a deal that would see nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen, officials said.
Despite the deal, tensions will almost certainly remain high between the United States and Iran, which are embroiled in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it is now enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before.
Flight tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed a Qatar Airways flight departed from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, which has been used for exchange flights in the past. Iranian state media said shortly after that the flight had left Tehran.
Two people, including a senior Biden administration official, said the prisoners had left Tehran. They all requested anonymity because the exchange is ongoing.
In addition to the five freed Americans, two American family members were flown out of Tehran, Biden administration officials said. The flight is expected to land in Doha, Qatar.
Earlier, officials said the deal would follow the arrival of nearly $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets in Qatar, a key element of the deal.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was the first to acknowledge that the swap would take place on Monday, confirming that the exchange cash held by South Korea was located in Qatar.
“Fortunately, Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea have been released and, God willing, these assets will begin today to be fully controlled by the government and the state,” Kanani said.
“On the issue of prisoner exchange, it will take place today and five prisoners who are citizens of the Islamic Republic will be released from American prisons,” he added. “Five citizens imprisoned in Iran will be handed over to the United States.”
He says two Iranian prisoners will stay in U.S.
Iran’s Central Bank Governor Mohammad Reza Farzin later admitted on state television that more than 5.5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) had been received in the Qatari account. A few months ago, Iran was expected to receive up to $7 billion.
The planned exchange comes ahead of world leaders convening this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Iran’s hardline President Ibrahim Raisi will speak.
The Qatar Airways plane landed at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport on Monday morning, according to flight tracking data.
Kanani’s announcement comes weeks after Iran said five Iranian Americans had been moved from prison to house arrest as part of a confidence-building initiative. Seoul, meanwhile, allowed frozen assets held in South Korean won to be exchanged for euros.
The planned exchange comes amid a massive U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with U.S. forces likely to board and guard merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.
The deal also leaves U.S. President Joe Biden facing fresh criticism from Republicans and others who say the administration is helping to boost Iran’s economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. forces and allies in the Middle East. It could also have implications for his reelection bid.
On the U.S. side, Washington said the planned exchange included Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges; Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Morad Ta Morad Tahbaz is an Iranian-American environmentalist who was arrested in 2018 and was also sentenced to 10 years in prison. All of their accusations have been widely criticized by their families, activists and the U.S. government.
U.S. officials have so far declined to identify the fourth and fifth prisoners.
Iran says most of the five prisoners it seeks are being held on suspicion of trying to export banned materials to Iran, such as dual-use electronics that could be used by the military.
The cash is money South Korea owes Iran but has not yet paid for oil purchased before the United States imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
The United States insists that once in Qatar, the funds will be held in restricted accounts and can only be used for humanitarian supplies such as medicine and food. The deals are currently allowed under U.S. sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s advancement of its nuclear program.
Iranian government officials largely agree with that explanation, although some hard-liners insist, without providing evidence, that Tehran will not impose any restrictions on how the money can be spent.
Iran and the United States have a history of prisoner exchanges, dating back to the U.S. embassy takeover and hostage crisis after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Their last major exchange took place in 2016, when Iran struck a deal with world powers to limit its nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions.
At that time, four American prisoners, including “Washington Post” reporter Jason Rezaian, flew back from Iran, and several Iranians in the United States also gained their freedom. On the same day, then-President Barack Obama’s administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran.
The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners, including those with dual nationality, as bargaining chips, a charge Tehran denies.
Negotiations over a major prisoner exchange stalled in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal. Starting the following year, a series of attacks and ship seizures by Iran heightened tensions.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program is now enriched closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before. Although the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned that Iran now has enough enriched uranium to produce “several” bombs, it could take months to build and possibly miniaturize the weapon if it decides to do so. Mounted on a missile to pursue one.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and the U.S. intelligence community has maintained its assessment that Iran will not pursue an atomic bomb.
Iran has taken steps in recent months to resolve some of its issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But progress on its plans has raised concerns about a wider regional conflict, as Israel, itself a nuclear power, has said it will not allow Tehran to develop a nuclear bomb. This threat is exacerbated by Israel’s bombing of Iraq and Syria to stop its nuclear program. It is also implicated in a series of killings of Iranian nuclear scientists.
Iran also supplies bomb-carrying drones to Russia, which Moscow uses to target sites in Ukraine in its war in Kiev, which remains another major dispute between Tehran and Washington.
