Jason Rezaian and Saeed Abedini released
According to the Persian-language Christian News Network and quoting a Fars judicial reporter, moments before and after the release of four dual-citizen prisoners, Jason Rezaian and Saeed Abedini (Iranian priest) were released from prison.
An hour ago, the Tehran prosecutor announced the release of four dual-citizen prisoners.
This is while it is believed that Amir Mirza Hekmati, who was arrested in Iran on charges of espionage, is also among those released.
According to the Iranian Judiciary News Agency, citing the Tehran Prosecutor, four dual-nationality prisoners have been released in Iran.
Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said: "In line with the approvals of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and the general interests of the system, four Iranian prisoners with dual citizenship were released today as part of a prisoner exchange."
According to Iranian state television, Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist who had been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year, is among those released.
Fars News Agency reported that in addition to Mr. Rezaian, Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini is also among those released.
The Washington Post, in response to the news of the release of its journalist, Jason Rezaian, said that it hopes the news is true, but that it has not yet received official news on the matter.
The lawyer for Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, another Iranian-American citizen imprisoned on espionage charges, told Tasnim News Agency: "My client called this morning and said that the judiciary had summoned him."
Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, Jason Rezaian, and Siamak Namazi are four Iranian-Americans imprisoned in Iran.
The news of the release of four dual-national prisoners has been released as the start of the implementation phase of the Iran nuclear deal is expected to be announced in Vienna in the coming hours, with the presence of the Iranian and American foreign ministers.
Kasra Naji, a BBC correspondent in Vienna, says that twelve Iranians are imprisoned in the United States on charges of "circumventing sanctions" and that seven of them are said to be released, but this news has not yet been confirmed.
Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed, explicitly or implicitly, a willingness to exchange Mr. Rezaian and other Americans imprisoned in Iran for Iranians imprisoned in the United States in connection with violations of that country's sanctions.
