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Iran Says It Has Released Four People in a Prisoner Swap Iran Says It Has Released Four Americans in a Prisoner Swap
(35 minutes later)
TEHRAN — Iran announced Saturday that its judiciary had freed four Iranian-American nationals as part of a prisoner swap with the United States. Iranian media reports said the Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian was among those freed. TEHRAN — Iran announced Saturday that it had released four Iranian-Americans as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States.
It was not immediately clear who else was released or who among Iranian prisoners in the United States had been released in exchange. The announcement from the judiciary on state television did not identify the four, but Iranian news media said they included Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent; Amir Hekmati, a Marine veteran; and Saeed Abedini, a pastor. There were discrepancies in the Iranian reports about the identity of the fourth prisoner.
The announcement was timed to coincide with the expected lifting of some Western sanctions on Iran, the most important stage of the nuclear agreement reached in July between Iran and major powers including the United States. It was not immediately clear whom the Americans released, but Iranian reports said seven Iranians were freed.
The other Iranian Americans known to be held by Iran include Amir Hekmati, 32, a Marine veteran from Flint, Mich., imprisoned since August 2011; Saeed Abedini, 35, a pastor from Boise, Idaho, imprisoned since the summer of 2012; and Siamak Namazi, a businessman in his 40s, who has been held without any known charges since mid-October. The exchange was apparently orchestrated to coincide with the expected announcement of the lifting of nuclear sanctions against Iran, the most important phase of the nuclear deal reached with world powers in July.
The incarceration of the Iranian-Americans had become an increasingly bitter side issue.
Mr. Rezaian, 39, a California native and dual citizen of the United States and Iran, was The Post’s bureau chief in Tehran in July 2014 when he was arrested. He was charged with spying on Iran’s nuclear program and gathering information about violations of international sanctions against Iran.
He was convicted in October after a closed trial.
Executives from 25 news organizations recently sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to press Iran to release Mr. Rezaian.