Iran has released five imprisoned Americans who, the US government claimed, were wrongfully detained and are now on a flight out of the country. Quoting a senior Biden administration official, CNN reported on Monday that the release of prisoners is of a wider deal that includes the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds. The prisoners are being flown on a Qatari government jet to Doha which left an airport Tehran on Monday afternoon local time. Two relatives of the detainees are also on board, along with the Qatari ambassador to Tehran.

As per CNN, the released people include Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi ' who had all been imprisoned for more than five years. Namazi had been detained since 2015. The identities of the other two Americans are not publicly known. The US and Iran will each free five prisoners under an agreement that also involves transfer of $6bn of frozen Iranian assets from South Korea.