Released US Reporter, Wife Leave Iran: Report

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian left Iran on a plane with his wife Yeganeh Salehi on Sunday, his newspaper said in a statement.

Post publisher Frederick Ryan hailed the release of Rezaian, and said he was also “pleased to see that Iran released four other Americans.”

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told CNN that a plane carrying American prisoners released from Iranian detention as part of a prisoner swap deal between Tehran and Washington is “about to take off.”

Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the prosecutor-general of Tehran had said earlier that four prisoners with dual citizenship would be released based on a decision by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council within the framework of a prisoner swap.

According to reports, Amir Mirzaee Hekmati, Jason Rezaian, Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosravi were among the released prisoners.

Later, media reports said that 7 Iranian nationals imprisoned in US jails would also be released as per the prisoner swap.

The release of the inmates came hours before termination of anti-Tehran sanctions following confirmations from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Tehran had fulfilled its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement finalized by Iran and six world powers in July 2015.

Shortly after the IAEA announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini announced in a joint statement that the implementation of the nuclear deal has officially been started.