Aboard the official Gulfstream 5 aircraft, five US nationals landed at a military airport in Washington D.C., where they were received by their families and friends after being released by Iranian authorities, as a result of a hostage exchange between Iran and the United States. Meanwhile, two of the five Iranian prisoners released by the US arrived in Tehran.

The five released are the result of six months of arduous negotiations between Iranian and American delegates, which resulted in the exchange of prisoners between both nations, in addition to the release of more than $6 billion in Iranian assets that were held in financial institutions in South Korea.

Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are back on American soil and in the arms of their loved ones.

Welcome home.

I remain unflinching in my efforts to bring home every American held hostage or wrongfully detained.

-President Biden (September 19th,2023)

The former prisoners who landed in the United States on September 19 had been accused by the Iranian authorities of espionage charges, for which they were sentenced to ten years in prison between 2015 and 2018.

What about the iranian prisioners?

Meanwhile, two of the five former Iranian prisoners arrived on Iranian soil, since the other three decided not to travel to Iran.

Iran, in addition to receiving in exchange the release of five Iranian nationals by the US authorities, will also have under its authority the more than 6 billion dollars that South Korea had not paid to the Islamic Republic after the US sanctions against Iran will come into force in 2019.

According to Washington, the millionaire amount will be reserved in accounts within Qatar, funds that can only be used for humanitarian issues such as purchasing food, medicine or medical equipment.

Source : https://abcnews.go.com / https://apnews.com