US Says Deal on Iran Releasing Five US Citizens on Track

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US believes an understanding on Iran ultimately releasing 5 U.S. residents stays on observe, White Home Nationwide Safety Adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned on Tuesday however declined to supply any timeline.

Iran on Aug. 10 launched 4 imprisoned U.S. residents into home arrest, the place they joined a fifth already below house confinement, in step one of a deal below which $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea can be unfrozen and the 5 would ultimately be allowed to go away the Islamic Republic.

“We consider that issues are continuing in keeping with the understanding that we have reached with Iran. I haven’t got an actual timetable for you as a result of there’s steps that have to but unfold. However we consider that that continues to be on observe,” Sullivan advised reporters in a convention name.

Permitting the 5 to go away Iran, which might take weeks, would take away a serious irritant between Washington and Tehran, which stay at odds on points from the Iranian nuclear program to Tehran’s assist for regional Shi’ite militias.

The Iranian Individuals who have been allowed to go away Iran’s Evin jail on Aug. 10 included businessmen Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Shargi, 58, in addition to environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 67, who additionally has British nationality. The identification of the fourth U.S. citizen who left the jail has not been made public, nor has that of the fifth who was already below home arrest.

(Reporting By Susan Heavey in Washington and Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Enhancing by Jonathan Oatis)

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