New York Times: The United States and Iran have reached a deal under which five detained Americans in Iran will be released in exchange for freeing several jailed Iranians and access to 6 billion dollars from Iran’s oil sales revenue.
CNN, the American news network, announced today, August 20th: According to a lawyer’s statements, the four Americans illegally detained in Iran have now been freed from Evin Prison and placed under house arrest. The fifth prisoner, a woman, had been previously released and is currently under house care.
The Biden administration will release the blocked 6 billion dollars from Iran’s oil sales in South Korea and transfer it to an account in Qatar.
Qatar will also only permit Iran to use the funds to purchase humanitarian goods.
This agreement was nearly finalized in March, but negotiations were halted due to Iran’s arrest of one of the unidentified American nationals. The U.S. National Security Council has approved the release of the five prisoners and deemed this action “encouraging.”
