Their names are: Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharghi. The names of the other two released prisoners are not known; it is a request from the families. “Five innocent Americans imprisoned in Iran return home. I am grateful to our partners, including the governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland and South Korea. But let’s not forget the other prisoners,” commented President Joe Biden, who was criticized by Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump. John Kirby, spokesman for the Security Council, assured: “This is not a rapprochement with the Iranian regime.”
After months of negotiations, the United States and Iran have reached an agreement that includes the exchange of 10 prisoners, five Iranians imprisoned in America and five Americans incarcerated in Evin Prison in Tehran. Yesterday, the men with US passports and two family members boarded a Qatari jet bound for the US. While of the five released Iranians – whom the White House defines as “not dangerous” – two will return to Iran, one will go to another country and the other two will remain in America.
From New York, while waiting to attend the UN Assembly, comes the comment of President Ebrahim Raisi: “The liberation is a humanitarian act, we do not exclude other similar actions.” The government in Washington also voted in the agreement agreed to “unlock” $6 billion in Iranian oil funds blocked in South Korea.
A decision that, on the one hand, represents a turning point in the difficult relations between the two countries, as Biden seeks to limit Khamenei’s nuclear programs, curb the Islamic Republic’s role in the war in Ukraine and stabilize the energy market oil. But what on the other side – that of the Iranian people – was seen by the West as another U-turn.
Activists call it “appeasement politics”, i.e. making concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid confrontation. And they wonder what will happen to those six billion. In an exchange with reporters, a senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “Iran will only be able to use this money for humanitarian purposes, otherwise we will lock them up.”
Just three days ago, hundreds of people took to the streets on the anniversary of the assassination of Mahsa Amini, showing that despite the brutality of the dictatorship, people want an end to the ayatollahs in power. “Biden’s decision is the wrong one,” comments Saeid Golkar, professor and member of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. “The American president has many problems at home and abroad. The USA currently has no interest in Iran’s fate. Biden wants to come to the election without solving another problem. But this election prolongs the agony of Iranians and “rewards” Trump.” Adding to the frustration was the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in Tehran to play in the Asian Champions League. The actress Nazanin Nour, on