“In line with the Supreme National Security Council approvals and general expedience of the system, four dual-nationality Iranian prisoners have been freed today under exchange mechanism,” Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said.
Mr. Jafari-Dolatabadi did not name the prisoners who were freed.
Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, 39, had been convicted on various charges, including espionage, by the Iranian government. The release comes as part of a prisoner swap and as world leaders gather in Vienna, Austria in anticipation of enacting the nuclear agreement with Iran. The deal includes the end of global financial sanctions on Iran.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said last week the department was “working very hard to get our citizens back home and we call again on Iran to release them.”
The U.S. citizens held by Iran are all believed to have been serving sentences at Iran’s notorious Evin prison for convictions on espionage or threatening Iran’s national security.