US President Donald Trump voiced hope for progress with Iran on Friday after Tehran released a US veteran and the US freed two Iranians.
Michael White, who had contracted the coronavirus while in Iran, flew out on a Swiss military jet to Zurich.
“I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely on his way home,” his mother, Joanne White, said.
Mr Trump spoke to Mr White by telephone and voiced rare appreciation to Iran, with which the US was close to all-out war several months ago. “Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!,” the President wrote on Twitter.
As Mr White was flying home, a federal judge issued an order to free an Iranian-American doctor, Majid Taheri, allowing him to go see family in Iran. A day earlier, Iranian Cyrus Asgari — a scientist arrested in 2016 while on an academic visit — returned to Iran.
“This can happen for all prisoners. No need for cherry picking,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. “Iranian hostages held in — and on behalf of — the US should come home,” he said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iranian authorities had been “constructive” on freeing Mr White but urged the release of three other US citizens, who remain detained.
Read the article in The Australian.