Tehran has temporarily released Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman, after seven years in detention and lifted a travel ban on his father in what may be preparations for a prisoner swap between Iran and the United States.
A UN spokesman said on Saturday that Siamak’s father, Baquer, 85, was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment after Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The spokesman said Guterres was also happy to hear that Siamak Namazi had also been “released from custody”.
Hojjat Kermani, the family’s lawyer, told the Financial Times that Siamak Namazi was released on Saturday evening for a week “for the time being” following “his repeated requests to be at his father’s side”, who needed an operation due to his heart problems.
Iran’s move could be seen as a goodwill gesture ahead of a broader prisoner swap deal. Such a deal could lead to the unfreezing of Iranian funds held at South Korea’s central bank, a diplomat familiar with the negotiations said. Qatar, the UN and Switzerland were involved in the negotiations, the diplomat said.
More than $7 billion of Iran’s revenue from oil shipments was frozen in two South Korean banks due to US sanctions in 2018.
Iranian officials have yet to comment on the new decision. But Nournews, a news service affiliated with the Supreme National Security Council, said that “in recent weeks there have been intensive discussions, with the mediation of one of the countries of the region, on the simultaneous release of prisoners in Iran and the United States”.
Nournews added that “billions” of Iranian silver dollars could be unfrozen.
US officials have previously said Washington negotiated indirectly with Iran alongside the nuclear talks in an effort to secure the release of four US citizens in Iran as part of a prisoner swap deal. Iran is also requesting the return of a number of Iranians detained in the United States.
While the prisoner release negotiations are separate from the nuclear talks, U.S. officials have hinted that it would be difficult to envision the Biden administration agreeing to join the 2015 deal without budging on the prisoners.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to join Tehran’s agreement with world powers and lift numerous sanctions against Iran if the Islamic Republic agrees to drastically reduce its nuclear activity and return to compliance with the ‘OK. But diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement have repeatedly been stymied by disputes over outstanding issues, with both sides blaming the other for the lack of breakthrough.
Tensions between Iran and the United States soared after former President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed crippling waves of sanctions on the republic.
Nuclear talks remain deadlocked after Washington and Tehran failed to agree on the latest draft document offered by the EU, which is mediating those talks, and diplomats and analysts are not expect no progress before the US midterm elections. But the indirect discussions around a possible exchange of prisoners continued.
Siamak Namazi, a 51-year-old businessman based in Dubai, was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for collaborating with a foreign government, the United States. Namazi is the longest serving Iranian-American imprisoned in Iran, according to a statement from his US-based legal team.
Baquer Namazi is a former Unicef official who was arrested in 2016. He was also sentenced to ten years in prison on charges similar to those of his son. His sentence was commuted in 2020 but he faced a travel ban.
The other Iranian-American prisoners are Morad Tahbaz, a 67-year-old businessman and environmental activist, and Emad Sharghi, a 57-year-old businessman.
Jared Genser, an international Namazi lawyer, said in a Twitter post that Siamak Namazi is “spending a night at his house with his parents in Tehran.” He added that “we will not rest until they return to the United States and their long nightmare is over.”