Five Americans Freed in Iran Prisoner Swap Arrive in US: NPR

Family members include released Americans Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Shargi, as well as two returnees whose names have not been released by the U.S. government, who were released as part of an exchange deal of prisoners between the United States and Iran, as they arrive at Davison Army Airfield. Tuesday at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Jonathan Ernst/AP

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Jonathan Ernst/AP

Family members include released Americans Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Shargi, as well as two returnees whose names have not been released by the U.S. government, who were released as part of an exchange deal of prisoners between the United States and Iran, as they arrive at Davison Army Airfield. Tuesday at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Jonathan Ernst/AP

Five Americans who were freed Monday as part of a $6 billion swap deal with Iran disembarked on U.S. soil and arrived at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, early Tuesday morning.

The former prisoners were reunited with family and friends at the airport, in tears, hugging each other and crying after years of forced separation. They reached the United States after leaving Tehran and traveling to Doha, Qatar, on Monday.

The group includes:

• Siamak Namazi, detained in Iran since 2015;
• Morad Tahbaz, an environmental activist arrested in 2018;
• Emad Shargi, arrested while visiting Iran in 2018;
• Two other people who would not have liked to be named publicly.

To secure their freedom, the Biden administration agreed to give Tehran access to $6 billion in frozen oil revenues, as well as release five people detained in the United States.

This group includes Iranian nationals who were living legally in the United States at the time of their arrest; most cases involved the illegal export of sensitive technology or information to Iran.