Iran signs an agreement with the US for a prisoner exchange and the release of frozen economic assets

Five Americans detained in Iran have been transferred from prison to house arrest, their families and Washington announced Thursday, the first step in a fragile deal that could free up billions of dollars for Tehran.

Progress towards the release of these detainees – one of whom has been held for almost eight years – comes after discreet and intense negotiations between Washington and Tehran, adversaries for decades.

The next stage of a deal, according to a source close to the negotiations, could be the transfer of $6 billion of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea to a special account in Qatar.. Iran could use it for humanitarian purchases like food and medicine.

However, when asked about it, the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, made it clear on Thursday night that “Iran will not benefit from any sanctions relief.”

“Funds from Iran must be used and transferred to restricted accounts so that they can only be used for humanitarian purposes,” he said.

If all goes according to plan, the prisoners could leave Iran during the month of September, according to a source close to the matter.

“I think this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare and that of their families,” added Blinken, who added that, as far as he knew, there were no other Americans detained in Iran.

“An Encouraging Step”

Four prisoners – Iranian-Americans Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharqi and Morad Tahbaz, as well as another prisoner whose name has not been released – left Tehran's Evin prison on Thursday, infamous for its harsh conditions of detention.

Iran's mission to the UN confirmed his release on Thursday night.

The four were escorted to a hotel where they will remain under surveillance by security forces, according to a lawyer for one of the prisoners.

The case of a fifth prisoner, an American woman, is being negotiated. She had already been placed under house arrest a few weeks ago.

“While this is an encouraging step, these American citizens … should never have been detained,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement.

“Negotiations for his final release are still ongoing and remain delicate,” he added.

“We are grateful that Siamak and the other Americans in Iran are out of Evin prison and under house arrest,” said Babak Namazi, Siamak's brother.

“While this represents a positive development, we will not let up until Siamak and the others are back home,” he said in a statement.

All Americans detained are of Iranian descent. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and has not maintained diplomatic relations with the United States since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

espionage accusations

According to a source close to him, the negotiations focused on the unfreezing of the 6 billion Iranian dollars in South Korea.. This country had blocked these funds, coming from the sale of hydrocarbons by Iran, as a result of US sanctions.

This deal, fragile as it is, comes at a time when the Joe Biden administration and Tehran are unable to find common ground to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Donald Trump withdrew.

Siamak Namazi, a businessman, was arrested in October 2015, accused of espionage on the basis of evidence that his family described as ridiculous.

Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian-American who also has British nationality, was arrested in January 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “conspiring with the United States”.

Emad Sharqi, a US-Iranian investor, was sentenced in 2020 to ten years in prison for espionage.