5 prisoners have flown out of Tehran, U.S. officials say

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : Months ago, Iran had anticipated getting as much as $7 billion.
55% : Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
50% : "Five imprisoned citizens who were in Iran will be given to the U.S. side.
50% : The tentative U.S.-Iran deal involving prisoners and frozen funds, explainedA Qatar Airways plane landed Monday morning at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, according to flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP.
50% : READ MORE: A timeline of U.S. relations with IranFour American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran at the time, and several Iranians in the U.S. won their freedom.
47% : That same day, then-President Barack Obama's administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran.
46% : DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Five prisoners sought by the U.S. in a swap with Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday, officials said.Flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP showed a Qatar Airways flight take off at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, which has been used for exchanges in the past.
44% : Iranian state media soon after said the flight had left Tehran.
44% : Their most recent major exchange happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions.
42% : Iranian government officials have largely concurred with that explanation, though some hard-liners have insisted, without providing evidence, that there would be no restrictions on how Tehran spends the money.
40% : The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran -- but had not yet paid -- for oil purchased before the U.S. imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
40% : While the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has warned that Iran now has enough enriched uranium to produce "several" bombs, months more would likely be needed to build a weapon and potentially miniaturize it to put it on a missile -- if Iran decided to pursue one.
39% : But the advances in its program have led to fears of a wider regional conflagration as Israel, itself a nuclear power, has said it would not allow Tehran to develop the bomb.
38% : What's changed for women in Iran one year after Mahsa Amini's death"On the subject of the prisoner swap, it will happen today and five prisoners, citizens of the Islamic Republic, will be released from the prisons in the U.S.," he added.
37% : Two people, including a senior Biden administration official, said that the prisoners had left Tehran.
36% : The announcement by Kanaani comes weeks after Iran said that five Iranian-Americans had been transferred from prison to house arrest as part of a confidence-building move.
36% : From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions.
35% : Daughters of American held in Iran discuss his 5-year confinement and move to house arrestIn addition to the five freed Americans, two U.S. family members flew out, according to the Biden administration official.
35% : Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution.
33% : Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the U.S. and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran's nuclear program.
29% : Iran has taken steps in recent months to settle some issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
28% : The deal has also already opened U.S. President Joe Biden to fresh criticism from Republicans and others who say that the administration is helping boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to American troops and Mideast allies.
24% : Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. intelligence community has kept its assessment that Iran is not pursuing an atomic bomb.
21% : The five prisoners Iran has said it seeks are mostly held over allegedly trying to export banned material to Iran, such as dual use electronics that can be used by a military.
14% : The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners -- including those with dual nationality -- as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
6% : Iran also supplies Russia with the bomb-carrying drones Moscow uses to target sites in Ukraine in its war on Kyiv, which remains another major dispute between Tehran and Washington.Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

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