CNN
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Five Americans jailed in Iran are expected to be released on Monday as part of a broader US-Iran deal, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.
The US government has labeled all five Americans as wrongfully detained.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told a news conference broadcast by state-run Press TV on Monday that the disclosure “will hopefully be finalized” along with other elements of the deal.
A Qatari plane is on standby in Iran to fly five Americans to Doha, a source briefed on the details of the matter told CNN on Monday.
Under the US-Iran deal, $6 billion of Iranian funds held in restricted accounts in South Korea would be transferred to restricted bank accounts in Qatar. Iranian and US officials were informed by Qatar that the money had been transferred from Switzerland to bank accounts in Qatar, according to a source briefed on the matter.
Sources told CNN the funds came from oil sales that were authorized and deposited into accounts set up under the Trump administration. Biden administration officials stressed that the funds that were transferred to the Qatari accounts would only be used by Iran for humanitarian purchases, and each transaction would be monitored by the US Treasury Department.
The deal also includes the release of five Iranians in US custody.
The release of the Americans would represent a major diplomatic breakthrough after years of complicated indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
All three publicly known to be part of the deal – Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz and Siamak Namazi – have been jailed for more than five years. Namazi has been detained since 2015. The identities of the other two Americans are not publicly known.
This is a developing story. Will be updated…
