Biden Administration Reaches Deal With Iran Over Detained Citizens

Iran has agreed to release five American citizens wrongfully detained in the foreign country and the U.S. will release five Iranian citizens being held in the U.S..

The Biden administration has reached an agreement with Iranian authorities.

As part of the deal, Iran has agreed to release five American citizens wrongfully detained in the foreign country and the U.S. will release five Iranian citizens being held in the U.S..

The agreement also involves a waiver to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without violating U.S. sanctions. However, no money will go directly to Iran and no U.S. taxpayer funds will be used for this transaction.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already signed off on the deal, but Congress was unaware of the decision until Monday. The deal has sparked some criticism, but Blinken assured that the Iranian funds could move from one restricted account to another and remain restricted to humanitarian trade.