Years in the making. Five americans wrongfully detained in iran are now on a plane and its just taken off from tehran on their way to freedom. Were there headed just next, details on all this and the deal that was made that led to their release. Also this hour, one of Donald Trumps codefendants heads to court. Jeffrey clark, the former Justice Department official, now arguing why his case should move out of georgia and into federal court. A sheriffs deputy ambushed and killed. A reward now offered to help find the suspect as a clue emerges they hope will lead to an arrest. Im john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan. This is cnn news central. Just moments ago, a qatari jet carrying Five Americans imprisoned in iran took off from tehran and is tet to arrive in doha, qatar. Three have all been imprisoned for more than five years. The identities of two other americans in the deal have not yet been released. Its all part of a complex u. S. iran deal involving the release of 6 billion in previously frozen iranian funds. The money was held in restricted accounts in south korea and transferred to restricted accounts in qatar. Sources tell us the funds come from oil sales that were allowed and placed into accounts set up under the trump administration. Biden Administration Officials say that iran will only be able to use that money on humanitarian purchases and that every transaction made will be monitored by the u. S. Treasury department. The deal also includes the release of five iranian nationals who have been in u. S. Custody. Cnns Natasha Bertrand is in washington for us. But we want to start with our becky anderson, who is in doha, qatar. Becky, first of all, do we have a sense of the timing of when these Five Americans are going to land there in doha . Being they have just, we now learned, left tehran. Thats right. We have just had the First Official confirmation, both from the qatari side and the u. S. Side that those five u. S. Detainees plus two Family Members are wheels up in the air, and out of Tehran Airport, inbound for doha. This airport in doha, the tarmac is just behind me here. And they will be expected within the next couple of hours. The flight time generally within about two hours. They will be met by an american delegation, the delegation which has been working with the qataris indirectly of course with the iranians, the u. S. And iran obviously not in direct negotiations but the qataris have mediated these negotiations and The Americans who will be here on the ground to welcome those five wrongly detained American Citizens will be here on the ground in about a couple hours from now. And this is, i think we can genuinely say with our hands on our hearts, assuming nothing else goes wrong, this is the beginning of the end of what has been a yearslong nightmare, not least for the first name that you described, just at the top of this show. Hes been detained since 2015, when he was first picked up by the iranian authorities. Charged in 2016 of colluding with a hostile government and has been inside a prison, a notorious iranian prison in tehran since then. He would be today the longest serving or the longest held american prisoner in iran. Along with his mother, hes now wheels up in the air on his way to doha here. Not clear how long the detainees, the former detainees now, will be on the ground here. One assumes The Americans will get them processed here and out the door as quickly as possible because there will be of course family who cannot wait to see them stateside. The end of it seems, the end of a physical and mental anguish for years for these people. Two remain unidentified as of yet. Their names withheld by their families. Theres a great deal of excitement and hope on the part of the families. I know youll be there throughout. We expect theyll land during our show so well be checking in with you. Thank you for your reporting on this. I want to go now to Natasha Bertrand. Can you give us some sense of how the deal all came together . You know, that man had been in prison for more than eight years, some others for five years. How did this all happen . This is a deal that the administration has been pursuing for over two years now. A deal to get those americans out of prison in iran. The contours of this deal really started taking shape about six to seven months ago, when negotiations really began in earnest in qatar between the u. S. And iran, but importantly, not directly. Not facetoface. The qataris were really key intermediaries between the u. S. And iranians because obviously, the u. S. And iran dont have direct diplomatic relations. A lot of back channeling, a lot of use of intermediaries here culminated in this deal, the First Movement of which we saw last month when iran moved to move four of those americans out of prison and into house arrest. One had already been on house arrest, and then of course, we saw the Secretary Of State Issue a waiver to allow those 6 billion funds in iranian frozen funds to be transferred to a qatari bank that iran could use for humanitarian purposes. All in service of this larger deal, but look, the administration has received a lot of backlash already for the deal they made with the iranians, particularly when it comes to that 6 billion. Republicans have really seized on that, equating it to a ransom payment. I want to read you a quote from Lindsey Graham who said im always glad when americans are released from captivity, however, this agreement will entice Rogue Regimes to take even more americans hostage. The ayatollah and his henchmen are terrorists and represent a terrorist state. The republicans seizing on this, saying this is only going to encourage aron to take more americans prisoner and hostage. The administration telling reporters just last night, previewing this, this is not going to change fundamentally the u. S. Relationship with iran. They said, quote, iran is an adversary and a State Sponsor of terrorism and we will hold them accountable wherever possible. S sara. Thank you so much. Also thank you to our becky anderson. Kate, i know you spoke to a couple of the daughters of one of the detainees and they were begging that the United States do something today. Its finally happened. Yeah, the daughters of these americans wrongfully held, the sisters. Families have been fighting for years and years to have their voices heard. Today is a very, very important day, as sara was just discussing, the identities of two of The Americans are not clear. We do know quite a bit and have learned about three of them. Semak narasi is the longest held prisoner, Wrongfully Detabed for more than eight years. He was arrested in 2015 while on a Business Trip to iran. At the time, the u. N. Called his arrest an arbitrary detention. In june of last year, he wrote an Opinion Piece for the New York Times describing his life behind bars, inside the notorious prison. Saying he was kept in Solitary Continement for the first 27 months of his sentence and also describing it this way, often kept in a bare closet sized room, i slept in the floor, received food from under the dog like a dog. I endured unutterable indignities during that time. Just a new months ago, he took the unprecedented step of speaking to cnn from inside prison. Honestly, the other hostages and i desperately need President Biden to finally hear us out, to finally hear our cry for help and bring us home. And i suppose desperate times call for desperate measures. So this is a desperate measure. I am clearly nervous. And for a time, it wasnt just him. His father was also arrested in iran in 2015 after flying there to advocate for his sons release. He was eventually set free about a year ago due to medical concerns. Also held there for years alongside him are u. S. Citizens businessman ahmad shargy and environmentalist. Both of them arrested in 2018. Shargis story i have been following for years. He was traveling with his wife. Two years later without trial, hes convicted of espionage and the u. S. Declared him wrongfully detained at the time. His wife was able to make it home and since then along with their two daughters and his sister, they have been fighting for his release ever since. Morad tabaz was also convicted of espionage without evidence. His daughter said hes been through cancer, had covid three sometimes while suffering inside the iranian prison and she spoke with me last month. Theres a human on the other side. This is a father, a brother. Theyre sons, husbands, and its been years, six years, almost six years for us that we havent seen them, and its so important, aside of all the speculations, to remember theyre human beings and their families are waiting for them. Wrongfully Detained Americans, john, wrapped up in horrible politics. Geopolitics and these families now on the precipice of the biggest day of their lives. It means so much to these families. There is no debate there. Thank you so much. With me now, cnn political and National Security analyst david sanger and Nic Robertson is with us. What should we read into the timing of this . Why now . Great question. Its not entirely clear, because its not as if there are other diplomatic breakthroughs about to happen with iran. In fact, we have been told that this is not one of those cases where releasing prisoners is a confidence Building Measure to something else. But the iranians are in desperate economic shape these days. And so the prospect that they would get this 6 billion which was being held in south korea from funds from south korean purchases of iranian oil years ago. I think it was very attractive to them. It also is the necessary thing to get out of the way if there is to be a bigger relationship. But you know what worries about me as wonderful as the human story is, and boy, what a relief to have them coming out and we all pray that this all works today and all of the choreographed elements have them back in the United States, maybe by tonight. The reality is that the Iranian NuclearProgram SincePresident Trump pulled out of it, is now bigger and closer to a weapon than it has ever been. Its turning out that President Trumps view that pulling out of this would make the iranians negotiate Something Better never came to pass. So now the question is, can you have any kind of an open . Nic, lets continue on that point for a second. We just did learn from the Biden Administration that they are imposing new sanctions on iran. So as soon as they got word, basically, that these five prisoners were on the plane on the way out, they issued an announcement that new sanctions, in this case, on the ministry of intelligence and former iranian leader, there are new sanctions there. Given that announcement and the clear desire to see publicly tough on iran, what do you read in to the greater u. S. iranian relationship . I think its exactly as david describes it. There are still huge issues, and these new sanctions announced today, theyre not out of the blue. This is not this is not to have on the one hand the release and then these sanctions. Just last week, more sanctions, u. S. Put sanctions on 25 iranian individuals from the irgc, from the law enforcement. The head of prisons as well. Theres been a very public, you know, sound from the west, from the United States and others, that iran is still far from working its way into the good books. And indeed, to davids point about the nuclear arms inspectors, we had the head of the International AtomicEnergy Agency just at the end of the last week go very publicly, with very tough diplomatic language saying onethird of all his inspectors have effectively been banned from iran. His most experienced inspectors in iran banned from going to iran to do their job. Iran is clearly way outside of compliance on the original nuclear deal, as david lays out, and indeed is making the situation only worse. So this is a good day for those prisoners being released, but it is not a new day in the relationship with iran. Whatsoever. Where does iran want to be, david, on the world stage . And how is that different perhaps than what their desires were two, three, four years ago . Back in the previous administration, that came in and negotiated the 2015 deal, i think that there were members of that Iranian Regime that saw an opportunity to restore iran to what they view as their rightful place as the biggest regional player in the gulf. And to a Historic Place there. I dont see that aspiration in the current government. Now, the president is here in new york today. Hes beginning to see people whenever he comes to this u. N. Thing, he has this procession of reporters, columnists, think tankers who come in, but he has yet to sort of lay out a real vision of where he wants to go take iran. And frankly, the kind of buildup theyre doing on the nuclear program, throwing out or barring these inspectors from coming in, doesnt seem to me like somebody who has a plan to go get these issues solved. Obviously providing arms, drones to russia in their effort overukraine doesnt play well on the world stage either. Absolutely. Our thanks to both of you. There are a lot of moving parts. Were going to be hearing from the white house later this hour, expected to hear from john kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security council. National Security Council coordinator. Well hear from him. Hes been front and center on this issue of the negotiations over the wrongfully Detained Americans, and also as just mentioned, the Biden Administration is issuing new sanctions against iran following this big day with the release of Five Americans who have been detained for years now in iran. Cnns Arlette Saenz has more details on this. What are you learning about these new sanctions . Reporter well, kate, i want to note, President Biden is currently in new york city where he will be attending the u. N. General Assembly Meetings a bit later this week. But we are waiting to see what kind of reaction we might get from President Biden himself. Of course, this release of these americans from iran comes after months of painstaking negotiations to try to secure their release. The Senior Administration official has confirmed that those Five Americans that have been freed as well as two American Family members are on a plane back here to back to doha at this moment. They eventually will be traveling on from there, here to the United States. But this comes at a time, as the Biden Administration has really placed a high priority in trying to get Detained Americans across the world back here home. Think about the releases they have coordinated with venezuela and some with russia. There are still some americans in russia at this moment, but this deal is already earning kritdicism from gop lawmakers and a 2024 president ial candidate. They have likened this payment to iran as a ransom payment. Of course, the administration has pushed back on those critics saying these are funds that will only be used for humanitarian purposes, they will be monitored by the treasury department. Additionally, the u. S. Is issuing those new sanctions on iran today. A few of those details include that they will be on former iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well as the Intelligence Service of iran. The white house add this time, were still waiting to get that confirmation from President Biden but this is a hopeful step for those families who have seen their loved ones detained in iran now, some for eight years. Arlette saenz at the white house, thank you. Sara. All right, minutes from now, one of Donald Trumps codefendants in the Georgia Election case, former doj attorney Jeffrey Clark will argue that he should have his case moved to federal court, an argument that has been made by mark meadows and lost. Well take you there live. 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