Following the initial stop in Doha, Qatar, the five Americans, all of whom had been designated as wrongfully detained in Iran, freed this week from Iranian detention returned to the US early Tuesday, CNN reports.
The freed Americans – Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, Siamak Namazi, and two Americans who have not been publicly named – arrived at Fort Belvoir’s Davison Army Airfield after they were released as part of a wider deal that includes Washington releasing Iranians from US prisons and unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds held in South Korea.
They were accompanied by Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, and the Acting US Special Envoy for Iran, Abram Paley.
The freed American detainees now have the option to get help acclimatizing back to normal life in the United States by participating in a Department of Defense program PISA (Post Isolation Support Activities).
As we previously reported, the Qatar Airways plane carrying the Americans took off from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport – which has been used for exchanges in the past – shortly after the US and Iran received confirmation that the released Iranian funds had been transferred to accounts in Doha, a source told Reuters.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani, as quoted by Iranian Press TV, meanwhile announced that two of the five Iranians who were released from the US prisons have already arrived in Doha. The other three will not return to Iran, according to Tehran, but will remain in the States.
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