5 American detainees held in Iran to be freed for $6 billion in humanitarian aid

Five Americans detained in Iran are expected to be set free. Iran will in exchange receive $6 billion in humanitarian aid from oil sales frozen in restricted accounts.

Iran’s foreign minister said Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi, who all have dual citizenship in the U.S. and Iran, will be flown to Doha, Qatar on a Qatari jet Monday, according to CNN. The other captives were not named.

The Center for Iran Human Rights said Namazi and his 80-year-old father were arrested for “collaborating with enemy states” in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Namazi, 51, graduated from White Plains High School just north of New York City.

Tahbaz was also sentenced to a 10-year term after being detained with several members of an environmentalist group in 2018 and convicted on espionage charges in 2019. Shargi was convicted on unspecified espionage charges in 2021. He was detained in 2018, according to NPR.

The U.S. State Department said all three men were being wrongfully held.

Funds headed to Iran will be wired through Switzerland to Iranian accounts in Qatar. The money is designated strictly for humanitarian purposes and its use will be monitored by the U.S. CNN said Iran was allowed to sell oil under an agreement with the Trump Administration. Those funds were kept in a restricted account in South Korea.

The Biden Administration has previously negotiated the release of Americans being held in Russia and Venezuela. Some Republican lawmakers were critical of the deal, which they compared to a “ransom” agreement, according to NBC News.