WASHINGTON — Five Americans held hostage in Iran were on a flight home Monday evening after President Biden agreed to release the same number of Iranian prisoners held in the US and unfreeze $6 billion in Tehran assets.
The five Americans — Siamak Namazi, businessman Emad Shargi and environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, along with two other unnamed individuals — landed in Qatar at around 10:40 a.m. ET Monday after being released from Iranian custody.
Namazi, Shargi and Tahbaz were greeted by US Ambassador to Qatar Timmy Davis before walking to a building at Doha’s airport.
“I would not be free today, if it wasn’t for all of you who didn’t allow the world to forget me,” Namazi said in a statement issued on his behalf by attorney Jared Genser. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for being my voice when I could not speak for myself and for making sure I was heard when I mustered the strength to scream from behind the impenetrable walls of Evin Prison.”
From Doha, the five boarded an afternoon flight to the US, according to the White House. Also joining them are two other Iranian Americans, which the Associated Press described as “family members” of the detainees.
It was unclear Monday afternoon whether and why the two additional citizens had been unable to leave Iran before the detainees were released. The National Security Council did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for clarification.
Biden spoke with the families of the seven American citizens in an “emotional call” just before 11:30 a.m. Monday, according to the White House.
In a statement announcing the detainees’ release, Biden warned Americans not to travel to the Islamic Republic, citing a State Department warning of the risk of “kidnapping and the arbitrary arrest and detention of US citizens.”
“All Americans should heed those words and have no expectation that their release can be secured if they do not,” said the president.
Biden also announced that the U.S. was sanctioning former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tehran’s Ministry of Intelligence for “their involvement in wrongful detentions” and demanded “a full account” of the fate of Robert Levinson, a former DEA and FBI agent who was detained in 2007 on Iran’s Kish Island while on an unauthorized CIA mission.
Levinson’s family announced in March 2020 that they believed their relative had died while in Iranian custody.
“As we celebrate the return of these Americans, we also remember those who did not return,” Biden said, referencing Levinson. “… And as we welcome home our fellow citizens, I once more remind all Americans of the serious risks of traveling to Iran. American passport holders should not travel there.”
Meanwhile, Nour News, an Iranian outlet believed to have ties to the country’s security apparatus, identified two Iranians released by the US as Mehrdad Ansari, sentenced to 63 months in prison in 2021 for obtaining equipment that could be used in missiles, electronic warfare, nuclear weapons and other military gear; and Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, charged in 2021 for allegedly unlawfully exporting laboratory equipment to Iran.
Monday’s arrangement also includes the unfreezing of some $6 billion in Iranian funds that had been held by South Korea.
That money has since been sent to Qatar – long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran – which will distribute the funds to Iran for “humanitarian purposes,” according to the White House.
“They can request a withdrawal for humanitarian goods, agricultural products, medical supplies, food and then we will run a process through which those goods are contracted for,” Kirby said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress of the unfreezing transaction last week.
The $6 billion came from funds South Korea owed Iran for oil that had been purchased but not paid for before the Trump administration sanctioned such transactions in 2019.
While US officials maintain that the release of funds does not represent a ransom payment because the money belonged to Iran in the first place, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday criticized the argument as semantics.
“It’s a ransom payment of $6 billion,” Pompeo told Fox News on Monday. “That’s about $1 billion per American.”
The former CIA director also said the release of funds jeopardizes the safety of other Americans overseas who may be detained by adversaries like Russia and China on trumped-up charges.
“The incentive system is now put in place — not just for the Iranians, but for the North Koreans, for every bad actor — that says, ‘Take an American, you’ll get a billion dollars,’” Pompeo said. “It is terrible policy.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he was “immensely relieved” at the detainees’ return, but added that the deal “incentivizes future hostage-taking” by Tehran.
“There is no question this deal will free up funds for Iran’s malign activities,” said McCaul, later adding: “US citizens should not travel to Iran; the risks are far too great, and the potential consequences are catastrophic. We need swift, significant action to restore deterrence against Iran’s hostage-taking and other malign activities.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted that Biden had signed off on a “terrible deal” and accused the president of “embarrassing appeasement” that “makes America less safe.”
Former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the exchange was “absolutely ridiculous” and set “a terrible PRECEDENT for the future.”
“Once you pay, you always pay, & MANY MORE HOSTAGES WILL BE TAKEN. Our grossly incompetent ‘leader,’ Crooked Joe Biden, gave 6 BILLION DOLLARS for 5 people. Iran gave ZERO for 5. He’s Dumb as a ROCK!” Trump added in a subsequent post.
But Kirby told CNN that “it’s important to remember that the [Iranian] regime doesn’t get the money.”
“The Iranians don’t even get the contract; we’ll make sure that the contracts are with vendors that we know we can trust, and then that material will be delivered to the Iranian people.”
Asked about accusations that the deal would inspire Iran to imprison additional Americans for use as bartering tools, Kirby said “this has been a behavior that Iran has been participating in for decades now.”
“I can’t perfectly predict whether they’ll do it again or not – which is why, quite frankly, the State Department has been so adamant about warning Americans and dual nationals, in particular, because the Iranians don’t regard dual nationals as anything other than Americans,” Kirby said.
All of the detainees released Monday were dual American and Iranian citizens. Tahbaz also holds British citizenship.
“There’s a real risk here,” Kirby said, “and we’ve been very clear about wanting people not to go to Iran and if you’re in Iran, and you have an American passport, you ought to look at leaving.”
With Post wires
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