Plane carrying five Americans freed from Iran lands in US - WEIS | Local & Area News, Sports, & Weather

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : Secretary of State Blinken, speaking in New York, said that he had the "great pleasure" of having an "emotional conversation" with the Americans after they landed in Doha, saying it was a good reminder of the "human element that's at the heart of everything we do."He also noted that American Bob Levinson still remains unaccounted for more than 16 years after what Blinken said was his abduction in Iran.
57% : We want to make sure they have access to mental and medical health care, whatever they need.
56% : However, I remain deeply concerned that the administration's decision to waive sanctions to facilitate the transfer of $6 billion in funds for Iran, the world's top state sponsor of terrorism, creates a direct incentive for America's adversaries to conduct future hostage-taking," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said in a statement.
53% : "Two of [Iranian] citizens will willingly return to Iran based, one person joins his family in a third country, and the other two citizens want to stay in America," Kanaani said.
51% : (TEHRAN, Iran) --
51% : The plane carrying five American citizens freed as part of a deal between the U.S. and Iran has now landed back home in the United States.
50% : The Iranian Foreign Ministry first announced the U.S. nationals would be imminently released early Monday morning, fulfilling a deal struck between Washington and Tehran last month, where the U.S. promised to grant clemency to five Iranians and to facilitate Iran's access to roughly $6 billion in frozen oil revenue on the condition the money be put toward humanitarian purposes.
50% : Two do not have legal standing to stay in the U.S. and will be transported by U.S. Marshals Service to Doha and then travel on to Iran.
48% : Tahbaz's wife, Vida, and Namazi's mother, Effie, were also allowed to leave Iran in the arrangement, according to a U.S. official.
47% : In a statement on Monday, President Joe Biden said, "Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home.""Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two citizens who wish to remain private will soon be reunited with their loved ones -- after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering," he said.
47% : Kanaani, the Iranian spokesperson, said only two of the Iranians who were expected to be released from American prisons were willing to return to Iran.
45% : Iran expected to begin receiving its frozen assets on Monday, Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said, adding that "active foreign policy" had led to the funds being unblocked.
43% : But National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby insisted during a press briefing Wednesday that "Iran will be getting no sanctions relief.""It's Iranian money that had been established in these accounts to allow some trade from foreign countries on things like Iranian oil. ...
41% : "The Americans held by Iran are innocent hostages who must be released immediately and unconditionally.
41% : "Expect Tehran to continue if not step up its hostage taking.
39% : Bob's legacy lives on powerfully in the Levinson Act which is giving us new and powerful tools to crack down and deter the practice of taking Americans unlawfully to try to turn them into political pawns, and to abuse the international system in that way," he said.
35% : Administration officials did not say whether they would remain the U.S.The five detained Americans all served time in Iran's notorious Evin prison but were placed on house arrest when Tehran and Washington reached a deal-in-principle.
33% : ""As Chairman of the [Republican Study Committee], we will use all legislative options to reverse this agreement and prevent further ransom payments and sanctions relief to Iran," Rep. Kevin Hern tweeted Tuesday.
18% : The $6 billion is coming from a restricted account in South Korea, where it was effectively frozen when the U.S. reinstated sanctions against Tehran after former President Donald Trump left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program and will be transferred to Qatar with restrictions on how Iran can spend the funds.

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