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Biden grants clemency to 5 jailed Iranians as US confirms prisoner swap
US President Joe Biden arrives for Mass at Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 16, 2023. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
The United States confirms a swap of prisoners with Iran and says that American President Joe Biden had granted clemency to five Iranians jailed or awaiting trial for non-violent crimes.
A US official says that Biden, in taking the politically risky move, will also impose new sanctions on Iran’s intelligence ministry and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranian media reports that two of the five Iranians released by the United States as part of a prisoner swap arrived today in Qatar.
“Mehrdad Moein Ansari and Reza Sarhangpour, who were released in the US-Iran prisoner exchange and were planning to travel to Iran, entered Doha,” the Tasnim news agency reports.
