The United States and Iran exchanged prisoners in Qatar

The United States and Iran exchanged prisoners. The American government released five citizens of the Islamic Republic, and the Iranian government released five Americans. This is reported by CBS.

The exchange took place on the night of September 19 in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Freed U.S. citizens include Siyamak Namaziy, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz, who were convicted of espionage by an Islamic Republic court and sentenced to 10 years in prison. According to US officials, two other Americans who were released, including a woman former UN official — their name was kept secret. 51-year-old entrepreneur Namaziy was in prison since 2015, entrepreneur Shargi and environmentalist Tahbaz since 2018.

Iranian state media reported the names of two Iranians that America liberated: Mehrdod Moin Ansari and Rizo Sarhangpur Kafrani. It is not clear what reason they were imprisoned in the United States.

Prior to the prisoner exchange, an agreement was signed between the United States and Iran to unblock Iran's $ 6 billion worth of assets held in South Korea.

Mohammad Rizo Farzin, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, spoke on state television and confirmed that funds had fallen on the accounts of the Islamic Republic in Qatar.

These events marked the first prisoner exchange and the first unblocking of Iranian assets at the initiative of the United States following the deterioration of relations between the countries that began in 2018.