5 Americans Freed From Iran Prison As US Hands Over $6BN In Controversial Deal

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : According to The Guardian, "The path to the swap reached a turning point when the state department agreed a waiver facilitating the release of the cash from South Korean banks to accounts in Switzerland and Doha."As for logistics, the same report details, "The five Americans have already been transferred out of Evin jail in Tehran to various hotels in the capital.
44% : "According to a review of the identities of these freed Americans, all who also hold Iranian citizenship, they were all arrested on espionage related charges over the past several years:Among those released are Siamak Namazi, who was arrested in October 2015 on a business trip to Iran on charges of cooperating with a hostile government; environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who was jailed in 2018 and has served five years of a 10-year sentence after being convicted of spying; and businessman Emad Shargi, who was arrested in 2018 and sentenced without a trial in 2020 to 10 years in prison for espionage.
42% : The family members of two of the detainees, both of whom had been prohibited from leaving Iran, were also allowed to depart with the five detainees, administration officials said.
36% : The five American citizens (dual nationals) who had been imprisoned in Iran are on their way toward freedom, having been flown from Tehran to a Doha airport where they will be swapped for two Iranians who had been imprisoned in the US.
22% : Amid the swap unfolding, news wires are reporting this unexpected development:BIDEN SANCTIONS FORMER IRAN PRESIDENT AFTER PRISONER SWAP: AFPFacing criticism from Iran hawks among Republicans in Congress, a senior Biden admin official sought to defend the release of the billions back to Iran, telling The Wall Street Journal that "The alternative is these Americans never come home.
16% : Tehran has at the same time accused the US of 'piracy' and theft for seizing its sovereign assets internationally, and for stealing oil.

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