After intense, secret negotiations, Iran on Thursday released four US citizens from prison and placed them under house arrest in what US officials hope will lead to their eventual release from Iran, people familiar with the negotiations and a lawyer for one of the prisoners. .

A fifth American was already under house arrest and will join the group as negotiations progress, people familiar with the negotiations said. They are held in a hotel below

Iranian

guard, said the attorney, Jared Genser.

The deal was described as a first step in what could be a multi-week process, the well-known people said.

National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson confirmed on Thursday that the Americans had left prison.

“We have received confirmation that Iran has released five Americans who were wrongfully detained from prison and placed them under house arrest,” Watson said in a statement. “While this is an encouraging step, these US citizens, Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi and two Americans who wish to remain private at this time should never have been detained.”

“We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible,” she added. “Of course we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States. Until then, negotiations for their eventual release are ongoing and delicate.”

Iran will eventually have access to the equivalent of up to $6 billion in frozen assets, but with restrictions on the money

only

are spent

only

on humanitarian material, the sources said. Iran remains under numerous US and European sanctions. Although it is Iran’s money, earned through the sale of oil, Irish Republicans and other hardliners on Iran will now have access to it. The Biden administration is also considering releasing Iranian prisoners once US citizens are home.

US negotiators worked through Swiss, Omani and Qatari officials to reach an agreement. Full freedom for Americans may be a long way off, the well-known people warned.

Three of the details are Siamak

Namazi

WHO

has been held by Iran for eight years

, and Shargi are businessmen and; environmentalist Morad

Tahbaz

is an environmental activist and businessman Emad Shargi

.

At least one of the

other two

who is involved

were not immediately identified by US officials

at least one

is a woman. Genser represents Namazi, considered the longest-serving American in Iran.

Babak Namazi, Siamak’s brother, said the family was grateful for the release.

“While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others return home; we continue to count the days until this can happen,” the brother said in a statement released by Genser’s office. “We have suffered immensely and indescribably for eight horrific years and just want to be reunited as a family.

The three men identified are both American and Iranian nationals and were imprisoned on what Iran called security-related charges. Namazi’s father, Baquer, was also arrested by Iran in 2016 when he went to visit his son, but was released in October on humanitarian grounds, Tehran said. He is 86 years old and in poor health.

Tahbaz and Shargi were arrested in 2018.

The US citizens were held in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, where reports of torture, brutal interrogations and poor conditions are rampant.

Earlier this year, Siamak Nazari gave a dramatic telephone interview to CNN from prison. He said he had become desperate, felt abandoned and complained bitterly about his plight. Turning to President Biden, he said, I implore you, sir, to put the lives and freedom of innocent Americans above all politics involved and just do whatever it takes to end this nightmare and get us home.

His family said at the time that his decision to risk an appearance on CNN was a sign of his desperation.

Washington has long accused Iran, like Russia and a handful of other countries, of seizing US citizens as a way of blackmailing or making concessions. Successive US administrations have labeled such prisoners as “unjustly detained”.

works for their release

through an agency created specifically to handle hostage affairs

works for their release

.

The US has imposed harsh sanctions on Tehran over its military activities in the region, human rights violations and other malicious behavior.

The Biden administration has insisted that negotiations over the detainees be conducted independently of talks with Iran on curtailing its nuclear program. The nuclear talks have stalled.

The US citizens negotiations being held in Iran are the latest in a series of clandestine prisoner swaps that the Biden administration has managed to secure over the past two years.

The president secured the release of human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina, who was detained in Rwanda in March. In one of the more high-profile cases, the government struck a deal with Russia

December to January to

the release of Brittney Griner, an American basketball player who was arrested in 2022 for possession of hash oil vape cartridges.

Griner was released in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian convicted arms dealer.

Like presidents before him, Biden has made it a priority since taking office to bring Americans who have been held hostage or wrongly held. Last July, he issued an executive order directing his administration to use financial sanctions and visa bans on both states and individuals as a means to secure the release of Americans.

who are

being held. The warrant also directed agencies to share intelligence with relatives of people detained.

But several Americans are still being held abroad, including arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich

in Russia

in late March on charges of espionage. Gershkovich has denied the allegations and the US has ruled that he is being wrongly detained.