This is cnn Breaking News. Breaking news here on cnn. Iran set to release five american prisoners at any moment. Right now, a jet is on stand by to bring them from teheran to qatar. Under this deal, the u. S. Has unfrozen 6 billion in iranian money that is supposed to only be used for humanitarian purposes. The u. S. Is also releasing five iranians from prison, two of them are planning to stay in america. Becky, this has been months of negotiations to lead to this point. Where do things stand right now as you sit . Reporter well, it should be the end of what has been a years long nightmare for these five iranianamerican citizens who have been held in iran, and are due for release today, expected to be delivered to the airport at any time, mediating this deal over months, being a friendly nation between the u. S. And iran. No direct negotiations between washington and teheran. Once those hostages are on the flight and wheels are up, it is about a twohour flight to doha, here in qatar, a
Breaking news this morning. Five americans are on a plane, one step closer to their freedom after being wrongfully detained for years in iran. We are live in qatar which is their first stop and where they are expected to touchdown any moment. In georgia, a hearing a under way for one of Donald Trumps codefendants where one of the defendants is asking his case to be moved from a State Court Into Federal court, and will it fail like mark meadows did. And how, a irs agent is saying that his rights were failed. With kate bolduan and sara sidner, im john berman and this is cnn news central. Five prisoners in iran wrongfully detained are expected to arrive in qatar by jet. And talking ging about siamak , emad sharghi, morad tahbaz and two other Unidentified Americans will be headed to america. And now 6 billion will be available to iran for humanitarian reason, and five iranian held prisoners will be released as well. Becky anderson is in doha, and what is the very latest that you are hearin
Reached mashhad on foot, the last day of safar is the largest gathering of mourners. The martyrdom of the 8th imam has been abandoned. Thank god that once again i came here to explain our example to work. Every year everyone who is here , give them karbala. Pilgrims have come to mashhad days ago to participate in the mourning of the martyrdom of this product from the cities of mazandaran province, qaimshahr city, from ramin, pakistan, isfahan, nawab tabarsi streets. Shirazi and imam reza, the four paths leading to the shrine are full of mourners. Here, no one goes out emptyhanded. Thank you for your kindness, sir. Connecting iran to everything i have is from imam reza. I have all my life. Delivers in courtyards and porches razavi mourners from different ethnicities and nationalities mourn in their own way. Salutations to imam reza in mashhad and reza and the shrine of imam rauf are mourning day by day. Imam rezais prayers are held with the presence of people and religious delegations f
Next, a look at the effectiveness of u. S. Sanctions against countries like iran and north korea. And other countries of strategic importance. Top officials from the Treasury Department who are responsible for implementing sanctions testified on the trump administrations priorities. And evaluated sanctions currently in place. On russia, venezuela, north korea and iran. We join the hearing in progress. Now, another question i have. As part of the omnibus package that was passed earlier in the year, we requested that the Treasury Department issue a report on entities that were delisted under the jcpoa and whether they have engaged in sanctionable activity since the jcpoa and we have not got that result yet. So if you could help us there. So what is the status of that report, and do you feel that any entities that had their sanctions lifted under the jcpoas have continued to engage in activity since the deal began to be enforced . So we continue working on those reports, as we said. We ha
At any time. This hearing is entitled evaluating the effectiveness of u. S. Sanctions programs. I now recognize myself for five minutes to give an opening statement. Im pleased to welcome our colleagues and our witnesses to the subcommittees hearing on u. S. Sanctions from iran to north korea to russia and venezuela, sanctions are increasingly used as an instrument in our Foreign Policy tool kit and Congress Must ensure that they be held accountable for results. This hearing will examine major sanctions programs as we seek to evaluate their effectiveness. Let me highlight three points that may provide context for this discussion. First, sanctions are key to bringing about behavioral change abroad and this committee has stressed that they should be designed accordingly. That means calibrating sanctions and sanctions relief based on specific and achievable actions we wish to see from a foreign actor. Tailoring sanctions in this way is important for secondary sanctions, given how banking