Americans Released by Iran Arrive Home

Family members embrace freed American Emad Shargi after he and four fellow detainees were released in a prisoner swap deal between US and Iran, as he arrives at Davison Army Airfield, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 at Fort Belvoir, Va. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
Family members embrace freed American Emad Shargi after he and four fellow detainees were released in a prisoner swap deal between US and Iran, as he arrives at Davison Army Airfield, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 at Fort Belvoir, Va. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
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Americans Released by Iran Arrive Home

Family members embrace freed American Emad Shargi after he and four fellow detainees were released in a prisoner swap deal between US and Iran, as he arrives at Davison Army Airfield, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 at Fort Belvoir, Va. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
Family members embrace freed American Emad Shargi after he and four fellow detainees were released in a prisoner swap deal between US and Iran, as he arrives at Davison Army Airfield, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 at Fort Belvoir, Va. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)

A plane carrying five Americans freed by Iran landed in the United States on Tuesday, a day after they were swapped for the release of five Iranians held in the US and the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan published on X a picture of the released Americans alongside diplomats in the airplane, saying “Welcome home.”

Following partially Qatari-led talks, the two countries carried out the prisoner swap upon the release of $6 billion frozen by South Korea as per the sanctions imposed on Iran.

The White House denied that the unfreezing of $6 billion of Iranian funds to help secure the release of five US citizens was effectively a ransom payment.

The welcome ceremony followed an exchange that was triggered on Monday when the funds that had been blocked in South Korea were wired, via Switzerland, to banks in Doha.

After the transfer was confirmed, the five US prisoners plus two relatives took off on a Qatari plane from Tehran, at the same time as two of the five Iranian detainees landed in Doha on their way home. Three Iranians chose not to go to Iran.

The deal removes a point of friction between the United States, which brands Tehran a sponsor of terrorism, and Iran, which calls Washington the "Great Satan".

But it is unclear whether it will bring the two adversaries, which have been at odds for 40 years, closer on any other issues, such as Iran's nuclear program and its backing for regional militias.

The freed Americans include US-Iranian dual citizens Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Sharqi, 59, both businessmen, and Morad Tahbaz, 67, an environmentalist who also holds British nationality. Two of them have not been publicly identified.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the return of the prisoners home in a statement on Monday but his administration also announced fresh US sanctions.

"We will continue to impose costs on Iran for their provocative actions in the region," he said.

"This was purely a humanitarian action ... And it can certainly be a step based upon which in the future other humanitarian actions can be taken," Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told a group of journalists after his arrival in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the door open to nuclear diplomacy but suggested nothing was imminent.

US analysts were skeptical about prospects for progress.

"The prisoner swap does likely pave the way for additional diplomacy around the nuclear program this fall, although the prospect for actually reaching a deal is very remote," said Henry Rome of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.



Philippines Alarmed after China Sends ‘Monster Ship’ to Disputed Shoal

This handout aerial photo taken on January 13, 2025 and released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on January 14 shows Chinese Coast Guard ship 5901 sailing in the South China Sea. (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
This handout aerial photo taken on January 13, 2025 and released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on January 14 shows Chinese Coast Guard ship 5901 sailing in the South China Sea. (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
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Philippines Alarmed after China Sends ‘Monster Ship’ to Disputed Shoal

This handout aerial photo taken on January 13, 2025 and released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on January 14 shows Chinese Coast Guard ship 5901 sailing in the South China Sea. (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)
This handout aerial photo taken on January 13, 2025 and released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on January 14 shows Chinese Coast Guard ship 5901 sailing in the South China Sea. (Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP)

The Philippines accused China on Tuesday of intimidating its fishermen at a disputed South China Sea shoal, and normalizing an "illegal presence", after Beijing sent its largest coast guard vessel into Manila's maritime zone.

The move comes against the backdrop of rising tension between the Philippines, a US treaty ally, and Beijing during the past two years, stemming from their overlapping claims in the busy waterway of the South China Sea.

The Philippines has protested this month against the entry of Chinese vessels in its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including the 165-m (541-ft) -long ship 5901, last spotted 77 nautical miles off the western province of Zambales.

Jonathan Malaya, a spokesperson for the Philippines' National Security Council, reiterated a call for Beijing to withdraw from Manila's waters the "monster ship" he said was deployed to intimidate its fishermen around Scarborough Shoal.

"We were surprised about the increasing aggression being showed by the People's Republic of China in deploying the monster ship," Malaya told a press conference.

"It is an escalation and provocative," Malaya added, calling the presence of the vessel "illegal" and "unacceptable".

"It is also a clear attempt to intimidate our fishermen and deprive them of their legitimate livelihood."

China's embassy in Manila said the shoal, which it calls "Huangyan Dao", is China's territory, and its actions are in "full accordance with the law".

"It is fully justified," the embassy said in a statement.

Since China seized the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippines, its coast guard ships have maintained a constant presence to patrol the area.

But China's recent actions have become more concerning because its coast guard vessels moved closer to the Philippine coast, Malaya added.

The Philippine coast guard said it had sent two of its largest vessels to drive away the ship whose presence, its spokesperson said, aimed to normalize China's "illegal deployment" of coast guard vessels in Manila's EEZ.

China's expansive claims in the South China Sea, a strategic shipping conduit for about $3 trillion of annual commerce, overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

In 2016, an international tribunal ruled China's claims to large swathes of the disputed waterway had no basis, a decision Beijing rejects.