Five prisoners sought by the US in a swap with Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday, officials said, part of a deal that saw nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen.
Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the US and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
The planned exchange has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Arabian Gulf, with the possibility of US troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.
President Joe Biden welcomed the news of the release in a statement, saying “five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home.”
He urged Americans not to travel to Iran, and he demanded more information on what happened to Bob Levinson, an American who went missing years ago. Biden also announced sanctions on former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.
Two people, including a senior Biden administration official, said that the prisoners left Tehran on Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity while the exchange was ongoing.
In addition to the five freed Americans, two US family members flew out, according to the Biden administration official.
Flight-tracking data showed a Qatar Airways flight take off from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, which has been used for exchanges in the past. Several of the former prisoners could be seen climbing the stairs to the flight in video released by Iranian media. The plane later landed in Doha, Qatar.
Meanwhile, Nour News, a website believed to be close to Iran’s security apparatus, said two of the Iranian prisoners had arrived in Doha for the swap.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that the exchange would take place Monday after nearly $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets reached Qatar.
“Fortunately Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were released and God willing today the assets will start to be fully controlled by the government and the nation,” Kanaani said.
“On the subject of the prisoner swap, it will happen today and five prisoners, citizens of the Islamic Republic, will be released from the prisons in the US,” he added. “Five imprisoned citizens who were in Iran will be given to the US side.”
He said two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the US.
Mohammad Reza Farzin, Iran’s Central Bank chief, later came on state television to acknowledge the receipt of over 5.5 billion euros — $5.9 billion — in accounts in Qatar. Months ago, Iran had anticipated getting as much as $7 billion.
The planned exchange comes ahead of the convening of world leaders at the UN General Assembly this week in New York, where Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi will speak.
The deal has already opened US President Joe Biden to fresh criticism from Republicans and others who say that the administration is helping boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to American troops and Mideast allies. That could have implications in his reelection campaign as well.
On the US side, Washington has said the planned swap includes Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges; Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. All of their charges have been widely criticized by their families, activists and the US government.
US officials have so far declined to identify the fourth and fifth prisoner.
The five prisoners Iran has said it seeks are mostly held over allegedly trying to export banned material to Iran, such as dual use electronics that can be used by a military.
The two that Nour News said were in Doha were: Mehrdad Ansari, an Iranian sentenced to 63 months in prison in 2021 for obtaining equipment that could be used in missiles, electronic warfare, nuclear weapons and other military gear, and Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani, an Iranian charged in 2021 over allegedly unlawfully exporting laboratory equipment to Iran.
The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil purchased before the US imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
The US maintains that, once in Qatar, the money will be held in restricted accounts and will only be able to be used for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food. Those transactions are currently allowed under American sanctions targeting Tehran over its advancing nuclear program.
Iranian government officials have largely concurred with that explanation, though some hard-liners have insisted, without providing evidence, that there would be no restrictions on how Tehran spends the money.
Iran and the US have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 US Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the revolution. Their most recent major exchange happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions.
The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners — including those with dual nationality — as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program now enriches closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. While the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has warned that Iran now has enough enriched uranium to produce “several” bombs, months more would likely be needed to build a weapon and potentially miniaturize it to put it on a missile — if Iran decided to pursue one.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, and the US intelligence community has kept its assessment that Iran is not pursuing an atomic bomb.
Iran has taken steps in recent months to settle some issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the advances in its program have led to fears of a wider regional conflagration as Israel, itself a nuclear power, has said it would not allow Tehran to develop the bomb. Israel bombed both Iraq and Syria to stop their nuclear programs, giving the threat more weight. It also is suspected in carrying out a series of killings targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists.
Iran also supplies Russia with the bomb-carrying drones Moscow uses to target sites in Ukraine in its war on Kyiv, which remains another major dispute between Tehran and Washington.
A drone crashed in a residential area of the northern Iranian city of Gorgan, Iranian state media said.
No casualties have so far been reported and law enforcement said they were investigating the incident.
Iranian news media have shared several photos and videos of a burnt object lying in a street, with nearby shops having their windows smashed and cars sustaining damage. Police have cordoned off the area.
The chief of police of Golestan province told semi-official Tasnim news agency the situation was under control and that some debris from the object landed outside the city.
China’s military sent 103 warplanes toward Taiwan in a 24-hour period in what the island’s defense ministry called a recent new high.
The planes were detected between 6 a.m. on Sunday and 6 a.m. on Monday, the ministry said. As is customary, they turned back before reaching Taiwan. Chinese warplanes fly toward the self-governing island on a near-daily basis but typically in smaller numbers. The Taiwan ministry didn’t explain what time period it meant by a “recent” high.
China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, has conducted increasingly large military drills in the air and waters around Taiwan as tensions have grown between the two and with the United States. The US is Taiwan’s main supplier of arms and opposes any attempt to change Taiwan’s status by force.
The Chinese government would prefer that Taiwan come under its control voluntarily and last week unveiled a plan for an integrated development demonstration zone in Fujian province, trying to entice Taiwanese even as it threatens the island militarily in what experts say is China’s long-running carrot and stick approach.
The recent actions may be an attempt to sway Taiwan’s presidential election in January. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which leans toward formal independence for the island, is anathema to the Chinese leadership. China favors opposition candidates who advocate working with the mainland.
The presidential candidates had no comment Monday on the latest Chinese military activity.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that 40 of the planes crossed the symbolic halfway point between mainland China and the island. They included more than 30 fighter jets as well as midair refueling tanker planes. Taiwan also reported nine Chinese naval vessels in area waters in the previous 24 hours.
The ministry called the Chinese military action “harassment” that it warned could escalate in the current tense atmosphere. “We urge the Beijing authorities to bear responsibility and immediately stop such kind of destructive military activities,” it said in a statement.
China last week sent a flotilla of ships including the aircraft carrier Shandong into waters near Taiwan. The drills came shortly after the US and Canada sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait, the waters that separate the island from the mainland.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 when the communists took control of China during a civil war. The losing Nationalists fled to Taiwan and set up their own government on the island.
Only a few foreign nations give the self-governing island official diplomatic recognition. The US among others has formal ties with China while maintaining a representative office in Taiwan.
Somalia on Sunday celebrated the victory of its army in liberating villages from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab terrorist group.
Galmudug regional state Vice President Ali Dahir congratulated the people for regaining control over several areas in the Mudug region.
Somalia has been plagued by years of insecurity with the main threats coming from the Al-Shabaab group.
The army, with the help of peacekeeping missions and local forces, are fighting Al-Shabaab militants, who control larger swathes of Somali territory.
Dahir said the armed forces have achieved “successive victories” in their war to “liberate the country from terrorism.”
The country’s official news agency, SONNA, said the army and the local forces captured Sargo and Qodqod areas in the Mudug region, killing 30 Al-Shabaab terrorists as part of their ongoing operation to liberate Somalia from the group.
The armed forces and the local forces have taken full control of Sargo and Qodqod in Mudug, it said.
A government statement lauded “the heroic role of local forces who stood alongside the national army to eliminate terrorism,” adding that it is determined to punish the terrorist conspirators who dare to harm the Somali people.
China’s top foreign policy official is heading to Russia for security talks after two days of meetings with US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser over the weekend in Malta.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy post, will be in Russia from Monday to Thursday for a round of China-Russia strategic security consultations, the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.
The US and China are at odds over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China has refrained from taking sides in the war, saying that while a country’s territory must be respected, the West needs to consider Russia’s security concerns about NATO expansion. It has accused the US of prolonging the fighting by providing arms to Ukraine, weaponry that the US says is needed to defend against Russian aggression.
China and Russia have grown closer in recent years as relations with the West have deteriorated for both. China is looking for support as it seeks to reshape the US-led international order into one that is more accommodating to its approach. Last month, it helped engineer an expansion of the BRICS partnership, which invited six more countries to join what has been a five-nation bloc that includes China and Russia.
Wang discussed the situation in Ukraine in his weekend meetings with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Both sides described the talks as candid, substantive and constructive as they try to stabilize their rocky relationship and manage differences over security, trade, technology and human rights. Specifics of their talks were not released.
Wang stepped down as foreign minister at the end of last year, taking on the more senior position of Communist Party foreign affairs chief, but was called back as foreign minister in July after his successor, Qin Gang, disappeared from public view. It’s unclear what happened to Qin, but he may have fallen out of favor with the leadership.
Ukraine reported on Monday its troops had recaptured more territory on the eastern front and advanced in the south in its military counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv’s forces had retaken two square km (0.77 square mile) of land in the past week around the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian troops in May after months of fighting.
Kyiv’s forces also recaptured two villages on the southern flank of the city, Andriivka and Klishchiivka, Maliar said.
Both cities lie on higher ground and their capture could set the stage to reasserting control over the pivotal city.
Kyiv’s troops have liberated 51 square km (19 square miles) near Bakhmut since the start of the counteroffensive, Maliar said.
Further south in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops continued to hold back a Russian offensive towards the towns of Avdiivka and Maryinka, Maliar said.
Ukrainian forces are trying to advance toward the Sea of Azov in a southern drive intended to split Russian forces retook 5.2 square km (two square miles) in the past week, said Maliar.
Overall, Ukraine regained more than 260 square km (100 square miles) in the south during the counteroffensive, she said.
During its three-month-old counteroffensive, Ukraine has reported slow, steady progress against entrenched Russian positions, retaking a string of villages and advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut, but taking no major settlements.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials have dismissed Western critics who say the offensive is too slow and hampered by strategic errors.
Reuters was not able to verify the reports and Russia has not confirmed the Ukrainian advances.
The European Union urged Iran on Sunday to reconsider its decision to bar multiple International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors assigned to oversee Tehran’s atomic activities, noting that the bloc was “highly concerned” by the move.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday that some members of their team no longer had permission to inspect Iran’s nuclear arsenal.
It said Iran’s “disproportionate and unprecedented” move would seriously hamper its work.
Iranian media and a Western diplomat said the decision concerned eight inspectors, all from France and Germany.
“The European Union is highly concerned by the … decision by Iran to withdraw the official designation of several experienced IAEA inspectors to monitor and verify its nuclear programme,” the spokesman for EU foreign affairs Peter Stano said in a statement.
“Particularly worrying is the direct and severe impact of this decision on the agency’s ability to conduct its verification activities, which includes the monitoring of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPoA],” he added.
“The EU urges Iran to reconsider its decision without delay.”
The objective of the 2015 agreement was to restrict Iran’s nuclear activities in return for alleviating international sanctions.
However, the accord was suspended due to the unilateral withdrawal by the US under president Donald Trump’s administration in 2018.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged the swift return of “irregular” migrants and a crackdown on the “brutal business” of migrant smuggling Sunday during a visit with Italy’s premier to a tiny fishing island overwhelmed with nearly 7,000 arrivals in a single day this week.
“We will decide who comes to the European Union, and under what circumstances. Not the smugglers,” von der Leyen declared after touring the island’s hotspot. The Red Cross said 1,500 migrants remained in the center built to accommodate hundreds.
Tensions have spiked on the island, which is closer to Tunisia than the Italian mainland, with residents expressing impatience with the constant flow of migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa arriving on their shores — not just this week but for decades.
In the face of the new crisis, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has pledged tougher measures and is calling for a naval blockade of North Africa to prevent migrants on smugglers’ boats from departing.
Von der Leyen’s vow to crack down on “this brutal business” of migrant smuggling and help Italy to cope with the spike in arrivals as part of a 10-point plan appeared to stop short of a naval blockade, at least a quick one.
She instead offered support for “exploring options to expand existing naval missions in the Mediterranean, or to work on new ones.”
The plan also includes speeding funds to Tunisia as part of a deal with the EU to block departures in exchange for aid, helping Italy accelerate asylum requests and setting up humanitarian corridors in countries of origin to discourage illegal routes.
She also pledged the Frontex border agency’s support in ensuring “the swift return of migrants to their country of origin” who don’t qualify to stay in the EU, working with the countries of origin.
Von der Leyen also called on EU nations to accept voluntary transfers — a frequent source of discord — as the EU dispatches experts to help manage and register the high number of migrants arriving in Italy.
“It is very important for me (to be here) because irregular migration is a European challenge and it needs a European answer. So we are in this together,” von der Leyen said.
Meloni, who has softened her once-combative stance against the EU since coming to power last year, framed von der Leyen’s visit as a “gesture of responsibility of Europe toward itself,” and not just a sign of solidarity with Italy.
“If we don’t work seriously all together to fight the illegal departures, the numbers of this phenomenon will not only overwhelm the border countries, but all of the others,” Meloni said.
She continued to press for an “efficient” naval blockade, noting that previous EU missions were not properly carried out, resulting in a pull factor for migrants. The Italian government intends to quickly activate a system for repatriating migrants who are not eligible to stay in Europe as part of measures to be decided by Monday, she said.
Television images showed Meloni speaking to islanders expressing their frustrations; she told them the government was working on a robust response, including 50 million euros ($53.4 million) to help the island. An unidentified person in the crowd said it wasn’t just money that they needed.
New arrivals also have chafed at the long wait to be transferred to the mainland; TV footage on Saturday showed hundreds surging toward the gate as police used shields to hold them back. In other shots, single migrants climbed over the fence of the migrant center
The crisis is challenging unity within the EU and also Meloni’s far-right-led government.
Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, head of the populist, right-wing League, has challenged the efficacy of an EU-Tunisia deal that was meant to halt departures in exchange for economic aid. He is hosting French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen at an annual League rally in northern Italy later Sunday.
Most of the migrants arriving this week departed from Tunisia.
The number of migrants making the perilous sea journey to Italy has doubled over last year and is on pace to reach record numbers hit in 2016.
South Korea’s president said the international community “will unite more tightly” to cope with deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, as he plans to raise the issue with world leaders at the UN General Assembly this week.
Worries about Russian-North Korean ties have flared since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia last week for a summit with President Vladimir Putin and to tour a slew of high-profile military and technology sites.
Foreign experts speculate Kim could refill Russia’s ammunition inventory drained in its 18-month war with Ukraine in return for economic aid and technologies to modernize his weapons systems targeting South Korea and the US.
“Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is illegal and unjust as it contravenes UN Security Council resolutions and various other international sanctions,” South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in written responses to questions from The Associated Press before his departure to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
“The international community will unite more tightly in response to such a move,” he said.
In his address Wednesday at the annual UN gathering, Yoon will speak about his assessment of the Russian-North Korean moves, according to his office in South Korea, which added it is discussing countermeasures with the US, Japan and other partners.
While Russian-North Korean cooperation is feared to fuel Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, it has also stoked security jitters in South Korea, where many think a Russian transfer of sophisticated weapons technologies would help North Korea acquire a functioning spy satellite, a nuclear-powered submarine and more powerful missiles.
Some experts still say North Korea would end up receiving food and cash in return for supplying ammunition and shells because Russia closely guards its high-tech weapons technologies.
North Korea’s advancing nuclear arsenal has been a major source of tensions in the region, with the North openly threatening to use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with its rivals and conducting a barrage of missile tests since last year. In response, Yoon and US President Joe Biden in April agreed to expand joint military exercises, increase the temporary deployments of US strategic assets and launch a bilateral nuclear consultative group.
“Our two countries (South Korea and the US) reaffirmed that any nuclear attack by North Korea will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response that will bring about the end of the regime,” Yoon said.
“Going forward, (South Korea)-US extended deterrence will develop into a joint system in which both countries discuss, decide and act together,” he said. “We will also enhance the ability to deter and respond to any nuclear or missile threat from North Korea.”
Since entering Russia last Tuesday in his first foreign travel in 4 1/2 years, Kim has inspected some of Russia’s most advanced weapons systems including nuclear-capable bombers, fighter jets, hypersonic missiles and a warship. During a summit with Putin at Russia’s most important space launch center on Wednesday, Kim vowed “full and unconditional support” for Putin.
Some South Koreans call on their government to consider providing lethal weapons to Ukraine in retaliation against Russia’s possible weapons technology transfers. But South Korea’s Defense Ministry said its policy of not supplying weapons to countries at war remained unchanged.
Yoon recently announced South Korea will provide an additional $300 million to Ukraine next year, on top of the $150 million promised this year. He said South Korea will prepare for a mid- to long-term support package worth more than $2 billion.
South Korea has provided Ukraine with demining equipment, emergency evacuation vehicles, pickup trucks, medical supplies, tablet PCs and other items. Yoon said in the coming year South Korea will continue to communicate closely with Ukraine to send it what is truly needed.
Since taking office last year, Yoon, a conservative, has made a bolstered military alliance with the US the heart of his foreign policy while pushing to move beyond history disputes with Japan — Korea’s former colonial ruler — and expand a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation. That has triggered concerns that South Korea’s relations with China, its biggest trading partner, will be hurt.
Yoon dismissed such a notion, saying “the trilateral cooperation harbors no intention of marginalizing any particular nation or establishing an exclusive coalition.”
Citing his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping last November and Premier Li Qiang this month, both on the margins of regional gatherings, Yoon said he learned that “China also attaches importance to (South Korea)-China relations.”
During their November meeting, Yoon said Xi expressed his willingness to visit South Korea when the COVID-19 pandemic situation stabilized. Yoon said Li and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had also expressed their support for resuming a trilateral Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo summit in South Korea for the first time in four years.
“All three countries — the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan — share a common understanding that it is important for China to play a responsible and constructive role not only in resolving pending issues on the Korean Peninsula and in the region but also in addressing global challenges,” Yoon said.
In his UN speech, Yoon said that he’ll also raise the issue of gaps in three areas — development, climate responses and digital transformation — and present how South Korea will contribute to resolving them.
Yoon said that as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the 2024-25 term, he’ll also mention that South Korea will play a responsible role on security issues that require international solidarity like the war in Ukraine and the North Korean nuclear program. While in New York, Yoon said he will hold bilateral summits with the leaders of about 30 countries.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on Saturday condemned Iran’s “disproportionate and unprecedented” move to bar multiple International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors assigned to the country, hindering its oversight of Tehran’s atomic activities.
“I strongly condemn this disproportionate and unprecedented unilateral measure which affects the normal planning and conduct of agency verification activities in Iran and openly contradicts the cooperation that should exist between the agency and Iran,” he said in a statement.
“These inspectors are among the most experienced agency experts with unique knowledge in enrichment technology,” the IAEA said. “With today’s decision, Iran has effectively removed about one-third of the core group of the Agency’s most experienced inspectors designated for Iran.”
Grossi added: “I call upon the Iranian Government to reconsider its decision and to return to a path of cooperation with the Agency.”
Separately, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiyani criticized the US decision to offload Iranian oil cargo seized by Washington.
“This move is a robbery on the part of the US,” he added.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) last week revealed that it had disrupted a multimillion-dollar shipment of crude oil by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Suez Rajan Ltd company pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced to a fine of almost $2.5 million, according to legal documents.
Empire Navigation, the operating company of the vessel carrying the contraband cargo, agreed to cooperate and transport the Iranian oil to the United States, the DOJ added, calling it the first criminal resolution to such a sanctions-violating sale.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Türkiye may part ways with the European Union, implying that the country is thinking about ending its bid to join the 27-nation bloc.
“The EU is making efforts to sever ties with Türkiye,” he told reporters before departing for the 78th UN General Assembly in New York.
“We will evaluate the situation, and if needed we will part ways with the EU.”
He was responding to a question about a recent report adopted by the European Parliament, which stated “the accession process cannot resume under the current circumstances, and calls on EU to explore ‘a parallel and realistic framework’ for EU-Türkiye relations.”
Türkiye applied to join the European Union in 1999, and accession talks began in 2005. Accession negotiations were frozen in 2018 because of “democratic backsliding,” according to the European Parliament.
Erdogan’s statement on Saturday came more than a week after Türkiye’s foreign minister affirmed his country’s resolve to join the EU and urged the bloc to take courageous steps to advance its bid.
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