Five Americans imprisoned in Iran were officially flown out of Tehran on Monday as the U.S. unfroze some $6 billion in Iranian oil funds that had been held in South Korea for the past five years.
Five Iranian prisoners held by Americans, two of whom plan to remain in the U.S., were also released as part of the prisoner swap.
The White House said the five American prisoners were on a plane from Tehran to Doha, Qatar, late Monday morning ET.
One of the prisoners being held in Iran is an oil executive with dual citizenship, who was detained in 2015 for “collaborating with a hostile government.”
Tehran was promised access to nearly $6 billion in frozen oil revenues on the condition that the funds be used for humanitarian purposes, under a deal between Washington and Tehran cemented in August.
Tehran expects the funds to be made available immediately on Monday, with Washington signing a blanket waiver of U.S. sanctions that would allow international banks to transfer the money to Iran from an account in South Korea.
Republicans have criticized the plan, with Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, saying: “The Americans being held by Iran are innocent hostages who must be released immediately and unconditionally. However, I remain deeply concerned that the administration’s decision to waive sanctions to facilitate the transfer of $6 billion in funds to Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to engage in future hostage-taking.”