Exclusive: Details of the Exchange of Five Iranian Defendants or Convicts in the U.S. with Five American Prisoners in Iran

New details have emerged about the seemingly imminent prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran, with the United States acknowledging for the first time that it will release five Iranians who are accused or convicted in the U.S. According to Voice of America, the U.S. State Department confirmed the release of these five Iranians in a statement sent to Voice of America on Monday. Hours earlier, Western news agencies reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had informed the U.S. Congress of this imminent action. Previously, on August 12, the U.S. and Iran confirmed that under this agreement, five American citizens, whom Washington claims have been wrongfully detained by the Islamic Republic, will also be released. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, in a written response to Voice of America, stated, "As we have previously said, the United States has agreed to transfer financial assets from South Korea to restricted accounts in financial institutions in Qatar and to release five Iranian citizens currently detained in the United States to facilitate the release of five American citizens in Iran." Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York confirmed the names of the five Iranians expected to be released under this agreement in a message to Voice of America. These names were first published earlier on Monday by the news site 'Al-Monitor'. Kaveh Lotfollah Afrasiabi, Mehrdad Ansari, Amin Hosseinzadeh, Reza Sarhangpour Kafarani, and Kambez Attar Kashani are the Iranians whose names have been confirmed by Iran. They are part of a group of eleven individuals who were first identified as potential candidates for prisoner exchange between the two countries in a Voice of America report on August 23. The U.S. State Department spokesperson did not respond to Voice of America's inquiry for confirmation on whether these five Iranian prisoners will be released. These five were arrested on charges of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran or providing illegal assistance to Tehran. There has also been no confirmation from the U.S. regarding the timing and manner of the exchange of the five American and Iranian prisoners. The U.S. State Department spokesperson stated that the United States continues to work towards the release of the five American citizens and closely monitors their health and well-being with the help of its Swiss partners, but added that there is no new information to share. The Iranian state news agency, IRNA, quoted Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, on Monday saying that this exchange will take place "in the near future." Of the five prisoners whose names Iran has confirmed, four, namely Afrasiabi, Ansari, Hosseinzadeh, and Kafarani, are Iranians without U.S. citizenship. Afrasiabi and Hosseinzadeh have permanent residency in the U.S., while Ansari and Kafarani have no legal status in the United States. The fifth Iranian, Kashani, is a dual Iranian-American citizen. Amin Hosseinzadeh, Mehrdad Ansari, Kaveh Lotfollah Afrasiabi, Kambez Attar Kashani, Reza Sarhangpour. Three of these five, namely Afrasiabi, Hosseinzadeh, and Kafarani, are under pre-trial supervision, and their inclusion in the agreement means that federal charges against them will be dropped, and they will be freed from travel restrictions outside their homes. The other two, named Ansari and Kashani, are serving their sentences in federal prisons in Louisiana and Michigan, respectively. Their inclusion in this deal means their release a few months before the end of their sentences, which conclude in December for Ansari and February for Kashani. Barry Rosen, a former American hostage in Iran, told Voice of America on Monday that he believes most of these five Iranians who will be released will not return to Iran because they have strong ties in America. He added that a prisoner exchange at an airport in the Middle East would provide a good propaganda opportunity for Iran, but he doubts that the U.S. would agree to such an exchange. Critics of the Biden administration's policy towards Iran told Voice of America that the agreement to release five Iranians will have negative consequences for the United States. Andrea Stricker, from the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated, "The Islamic Republic will view this as a significant victory for its long-standing policy of taking Western hostages in exchange for ransom and the release of Iranian citizens." She further added, "Instead of facing penalties or consequences from the U.S., the Iranian regime will be emboldened to continue abducting innocent people." The Biden administration has rejected critics' descriptions of unblocking six billion dollars of Iranian funds in South Korean banks as a ransom to Tehran. According to Washington, Tehran will regain access to its financial resources that were blocked under U.S. sanctions and can only use them through a third party for humanitarian purchases under U.S. supervision. Jason Brodsky, policy director of the United Against a Nuclear Iran group, stated that he believes the unblocking of six billion dollars of Iranian funds for the release of imprisoned Americans is "more than sufficient." He added, "The release of Iranians accused of crimes in the U.S. is an attempt by Tehran to create a false equivalence between the U.S. judicial system and the injustice system in Iran." Sina Toosi, a researcher at the Washington-based Center for International Policy and a supporter of the U.S.-Iran agreement, reacted positively to the developments on Monday in a post on the social media platform 'X'. Toosi wrote, "This is a pleasant occurrence that the U.S. and Iran are nearing the implementation of an agreement that is somewhat relieving for the families of wrongfully imprisoned prisoners and also for the millions of Iranians suffering from the economic crisis caused by U.S. sanctions." Iran confirmed in August that it had placed these five American prisoners under house arrest. The United States has identified three of them as Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz, but has refrained from naming the other two, whose detentions had not been previously confirmed, due to privacy concerns. Jared Genser, a human rights lawyer, stated on August 12 that Namazi, Shargi, Tahbaz, and another American prisoner were transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to house arrest in an unknown hotel and are under supervision. He added that the fifth American is a woman who was previously under house arrest. Michael Lipin, a Voice of America reporter, prepared this report. The headline and lead of this report have been rewritten and clarified to specify the status of the five defendants or convicts in the U.S.