ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A White House spokesperson said on Thursday that Iranian authorities had released five American citizens, putting them under house arrest. The development followed a reported prisoner swap deal between Washington and Tehran. Adrienne Watson, the White House National Security Council Spokesperson, said in a statement late Thursday that she “can confirm reports that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them under house arrest.” “While this is an encouraging step, these US citizens - Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private - should never have been detained in the first place. We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible,” she added. Al Monitor reported that Tahbaz, Namazi and Shargi are dual citizens of US and Iran. It cited an unnamed spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations as saying "As part of a humanitarian cooperation agreement mediated by a third-party government, Iran and the US have agreed to reciprocally release and pardon five prisoners.” The five Americans were held in Evin Prison in Tehran. Jared Genser, Namazi family’s lawyer, said in a statement reported by Washington Post that the family had received visual confirmation that the three identified people were out of the prison. The prison swap is a rare development as the US-Iran relations have been thorny since Washington withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal in 2018.
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