BBC Online :
Iran has released four Iranian Americans, one of them thought to be Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, as it anticipates the likely lifting of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme.
Rezaian was convicted of espionage in Iran last year.
Only four people with US citizenship are known to be in detention in Iran.
Iran said they were being swapped for Iranians held in the US but there was no confirmation from Washington.
News of the releases came after Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif predicted that international sanctions against his country would be lifted on Saturday.
He is in Vienna for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry over Iran’s
nuclear deal. The international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is expected to confirm that Iran has scaled back its atomic activities in line with the agreement, to focus exclusively on peaceful atomic purposes.
Billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets are expected to be released and the sale of Iranian oil on the world market will again be permitted.
The news agency adds that a former FBI agent, Robert Levinson, disappeared in Iran in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission.
The Washington Post said in a report that there had been no official US confirmation of the release.
One Iranian news agency, Fars, named those released as Rezaian, Hekmati and Abedini. It did not give the fourth prisoner’s name.
Iran has released four Iranian Americans, one of them thought to be Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, as it anticipates the likely lifting of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme.
Rezaian was convicted of espionage in Iran last year.
Only four people with US citizenship are known to be in detention in Iran.
Iran said they were being swapped for Iranians held in the US but there was no confirmation from Washington.
News of the releases came after Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif predicted that international sanctions against his country would be lifted on Saturday.
He is in Vienna for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry over Iran’s
nuclear deal. The international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is expected to confirm that Iran has scaled back its atomic activities in line with the agreement, to focus exclusively on peaceful atomic purposes.
Billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets are expected to be released and the sale of Iranian oil on the world market will again be permitted.
The news agency adds that a former FBI agent, Robert Levinson, disappeared in Iran in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission.
The Washington Post said in a report that there had been no official US confirmation of the release.
One Iranian news agency, Fars, named those released as Rezaian, Hekmati and Abedini. It did not give the fourth prisoner’s name.
