GW Expert Available: U.S. Advances Deal with Iran to Swap Prisoners, Release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds

The Biden Administration announced it is advancing a deal with Iran for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran after it issued a waiver allowing banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets without fear of U.S. sanctions. Also part of the deal, the U.S. has agreed to release five Iranian citizens being held in the United States.

Sina Azodi is a Visiting Scholar & Lecturer of International Affairs at the George Washington University, where he teaches a graduate course on Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East. His research interests include international security, nuclear nonproliferation, and U.S.-Iranian relations. Azodi's current research involves exploring the roots of the Iranian nuclear program and his dissertation, "Continuity and Change in Iranian Nuclear Program," critically investigates the Iranian nuclear program since its inception in 1950s until 2003.

“These are five US detainees who have been held unjustly for years and they finally get to reunite with their families. At the same time, Iran gets access to its own money. It’s not coming from taxpayers’ money, so in a sense the US is getting its hostages for free,” Azodi said in a recent interview with The Guardian. “Iran gets access to its own money for purposes that should have been exempt from sanctions regardless, because US law provides for exemptions for food and medicine. So it’s a good deal for everybody.”