Months of mediation – USA and Iran exchange prisoners – EDA involved – News

  • A prisoner exchange between the USA and Iran has been planned for months.
  • Five US prisoners have now been released. In return, five Iranians from US custody can return to their homeland.
  • Switzerland was involved in the prisoner exchange with its good offices.

Iran has released several US citizens as part of a prisoner swap. They were flown aboard a plane from Tehran to Qatar.

Legend:

Siamak Namasi, Morad Tahbas and Emad Shargi (men in black suits from right to left) arrive at Doha International Airport in Qatar.

REUTERS/Mohammed Dabbous

The prisoner swap had been prepared for months. The Gulf states of Oman and Qatar played a particularly important role in the negotiations. At the beginning of August, Iran placed the released Americans under house arrest in a hotel in the capital Tehran. Now they can leave the country.

The exchanged prisoners


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The best-known American who has now been exchanged is businessman Siamak Namasi, who has both American and Iranian citizenship. He was imprisoned in 2015 and sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage.

In 2018, environmentalist Morad Tahbas and businessman Emad Shargi were arrested. The identities of the other two Americans who have now been released are not publicly known.

According to information from Tehran, the US justice system will release five convicted Iranians as part of the agreement. According to reports in the USA, they are said to have tried, among other things, to circumvent international sanctions. An Iranian was also accused of industrial espionage.

Another is said to have violated a law that requires “foreign representatives” to register in the USA. According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, two men will return to their homeland and another will fly to a third country. Two Iranians want to stay in the USA.

According to Tehran and Washington, the money to which Iran is supposed to have access was exchanged by South Korea in several tranches for euros and transferred to Qatar. The Islamic Republic should be able to use the assets to purchase goods under supervision that are not affected by international sanctions. Due to the punitive measures, Iran is cut off from global payment transactions.

EDA involved in the exchange

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has welcomed the prisoner exchange between the USA and Iran. The FDFA would like to thank all countries involved for the trust they have placed in it, it said in a statement. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis also thanked Iran and the USA on X, formerly Twitter.

Thanks to its many years of experience, Switzerland contributed significantly to the success of this humanitarian gesture and facilitated the associated transfer of blocked funds from South Korea to Iran. Switzerland took on this key role as part of its good offices and at the request of all parties involved.

US President Joe Biden thanked Switzerland and the governments of other countries involved in the prisoner exchange with Iran. Switzerland, Qatar, Oman and South Korea had worked “tirelessly” towards the agreement alongside the Americans, he said.

Mike Pence: “Largest ransom payment in US history”

There had previously been a lot of criticism of the agreement with Tehran. Former US Vice President Mike Pence, for example, described the deal as “the largest ransom payment in American history.” Critics warned that Tehran could possibly use the billions for military purposes.

Relations have been poor since the storming of the US embassy in 1979


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Relations between Iran and the US are historically bad. Both countries were repeatedly on the brink of war. In January 2020, the US killed the powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani in a drone strike in neighboring Iraq. Weeks of military tension followed.

The storming of the US embassy by students and the subsequent hostage-taking on November 4, 1979 had irrevocably worsened relations between the two countries.

The US government has tried to allay such concerns in recent weeks. She emphasized several times that the billions could only be used for humanitarian purposes – for example for medicine or food.

Foreigners held hostage in Iran

It is not a ransom and not money from US taxpayers, but rather Iranian money that should only benefit the Iranian people and not Iran’s leadership. The US side also previously rejected statements by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that the money should flow into other areas, such as domestic production.

Iran repeatedly imprisons foreigners on charges of espionage or other violations of national security. Human rights activists criticize the proceedings, which are often held behind closed doors, as unfair. The Islamic Republic is also accused of holding foreigners hostage.

source site-72