Just announced on Fox News.....
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...48f746-bc4b-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html
Post reporter Jason Rezaian and others to be freed in prisoner swap, according to Iranian media
By Carol Morello and Karen DeYoung January 16 at 9:27 AM „³
Comments 13
VIENNA ¡X Four U.S. citizens imprisoned in Iran, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezian, are to be freed in a prisoner swap, according to Iranian news agencies.
All four are duel U.S.-Iranian citizens, according to the semi-official Mehr and Fars news agencies. Reziain has been held since July, 2014. There was no official confirmation from the United States.
News of the exchange came as world leaders converged here Saturday in anticipation of the end of international sanctions against Iran in exchange for significantly curtailing its nuclear program.
The nuclear agreement will take effect when the International Atomic Energy Agency certifies that Iran has met its commitments under the deal it signed last July with six global powers, including the United States.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry flew from London to Vienna in the early afternoon local time. He went immediately into a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Coburg Palace Hotel, the scene of months-long final negotiations last summer that led to the deal between Iran and the world powers.
[How the nuclear deal with Iran works]
Iranian, European and U.S. officials have said repeatedly over the past week that IAEA certification and implementation of the agreement was just ¡§days¡¨ away. But the delay in what initially was to be an announcement Saturday morning, Vienna time, suggested that some last-minute issues still needed to be ironed out.
Zarif was brimming with optimism when he arrived earlier in the day and met with Federica Mogherini, the European Union¡¦s foreign policy chief.
¡§This is a good day for the Iranian people . . . and for the world,¡¨ he told Iranian media. ¡§What is going to happen today is proof . . . that major problems in the world could be tackled through dialogue, not threats, pressures and sanctions.¡¨
[Full text of the Iran nuclear deal]
Under the agreement, the Vienna-based IAEA is tasked with verifying that Iran has met the terms of the deal ¡X including the mothballing of most of its uranium-enrichment centrifuges, the shipment of enriched-uranium stockpiles out of the country and the disabling its Arak nuclear reactor, capable of yielding plutonium. The IAEA is also charged with monitoring the country¡¦s program for years to come to ensure that Iran is not moving toward nuclear weapons production.
Iran has said that it never intended to build nuclear weapons and that its program is for peaceful energy and medical research purposes.
International sanctions are officially lifted as soon as the IAEA certification is made, giving Iran access to more than $50 billion in long-frozen assets in international banks. At the same time, the United States will issue guidance to banks and businesses to explain what commerce will be allowed. Some U.S. sanctions will remain in effect.
DeYoung reported from Washington.
Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department.
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...48f746-bc4b-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html
Post reporter Jason Rezaian and others to be freed in prisoner swap, according to Iranian media
By Carol Morello and Karen DeYoung January 16 at 9:27 AM „³
Comments 13
VIENNA ¡X Four U.S. citizens imprisoned in Iran, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezian, are to be freed in a prisoner swap, according to Iranian news agencies.
All four are duel U.S.-Iranian citizens, according to the semi-official Mehr and Fars news agencies. Reziain has been held since July, 2014. There was no official confirmation from the United States.
News of the exchange came as world leaders converged here Saturday in anticipation of the end of international sanctions against Iran in exchange for significantly curtailing its nuclear program.
The nuclear agreement will take effect when the International Atomic Energy Agency certifies that Iran has met its commitments under the deal it signed last July with six global powers, including the United States.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry flew from London to Vienna in the early afternoon local time. He went immediately into a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Coburg Palace Hotel, the scene of months-long final negotiations last summer that led to the deal between Iran and the world powers.
[How the nuclear deal with Iran works]
Iranian, European and U.S. officials have said repeatedly over the past week that IAEA certification and implementation of the agreement was just ¡§days¡¨ away. But the delay in what initially was to be an announcement Saturday morning, Vienna time, suggested that some last-minute issues still needed to be ironed out.
Zarif was brimming with optimism when he arrived earlier in the day and met with Federica Mogherini, the European Union¡¦s foreign policy chief.
¡§This is a good day for the Iranian people . . . and for the world,¡¨ he told Iranian media. ¡§What is going to happen today is proof . . . that major problems in the world could be tackled through dialogue, not threats, pressures and sanctions.¡¨
[Full text of the Iran nuclear deal]
Under the agreement, the Vienna-based IAEA is tasked with verifying that Iran has met the terms of the deal ¡X including the mothballing of most of its uranium-enrichment centrifuges, the shipment of enriched-uranium stockpiles out of the country and the disabling its Arak nuclear reactor, capable of yielding plutonium. The IAEA is also charged with monitoring the country¡¦s program for years to come to ensure that Iran is not moving toward nuclear weapons production.
Iran has said that it never intended to build nuclear weapons and that its program is for peaceful energy and medical research purposes.
International sanctions are officially lifted as soon as the IAEA certification is made, giving Iran access to more than $50 billion in long-frozen assets in international banks. At the same time, the United States will issue guidance to banks and businesses to explain what commerce will be allowed. Some U.S. sanctions will remain in effect.
DeYoung reported from Washington.
Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department.
