CNN
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Five Americans freed from Iranian detention this week returned to US soil early Tuesday following an initial stop in Doha, Qatar, two US officials told CNN.
Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz and Siamak Namazi, along with two Americans who have not been publicly named arrived at Fort Belvoir’s Davison Army Airfield for an emotional reunion with their family members.
The freed Americans, who were released Monday as part of a wider deal that includes the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds, will have the option to participate in a Department of Defense program known as PISA (Post Isolation Support Activities) to help them acclimate back to normal life now that they are back in the United States.
The return of the five Americans, all of whom had been designated as wrongfully detained, caps a significant diplomatic breakthrough after years of complicated indirect negotiations between the US and Iran, who do not have formal diplomatic ties.
Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and Acting US special envoy for Iran Abram Paley descended the steps of the small plane first to cheers and applause, and someone was heard shouting, “Yay Roger! Yay Abram!”
Then the freed American detainees stepped off the plane and onto US soil for the first time in more than five years and into the arms of their loved ones, some of whom rushed forward to greet them, carrying small American flags.
“We’re home,” Emad Shargi said after embracing his daughters, Hannah and Ariana, and stroking his wife Bahareh’s face.
The family members then greeted each other’s returned loved ones – Bahareh hugging Siamak and Morad’s son hugging Emad.
In brief remarks following the reunions, Carstens said, “We’ve all looked forward to this day, but we all knew that this day was eventually going to come.”
“Enjoy your reunion. Go through the Army’s program on post isolation support. Maintain that connectivity. Let’s stay in touch. This is not goodbye. And I know a lot of you are going to maintain the fight to try to bring more Americans home,” he said.
The group was flown out of Tehran on a Qatari government jet to Doha on Monday, before taking off for the Washington, DC, area to be reunited with their families, according to a senior administration official. Namazi’s mother, Effie Namazi, and Tahbaz’s wife, Vida Tahbaz, who had been previously unable to leave Iran, were also on the flight from Iran to Doha, the official said Monday.
After a year of indirect negotiations, the deal began to broadly come together in Doha about seven months ago and the first tangible public steps took place about five weeks ago, when four of the Americans were transferred to house arrest. The fifth American was already under house arrest.
President Joe Biden on Monday celebrated their release “after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering.” But while the release stood as the latest high-profile deal negotiated by his administration to secure the release of Americans deemed wrongly detained abroad, Biden drew criticism from some Republicans who likened the agreement to a “ransom payment.”
A senior Biden administration official said Monday that the deal “has not changed our relationship with Iran in any way,” noting the US would still work to hold Iran accountable for its human rights abuses and to constrain its nuclear program.
This story has been updated with additional information.
