On September 18, 2023, five Americans who were imprisoned in Iran landed in Doha as free citizens. The 5 that were released from prison include 4 men and 1 woman, their names being Siamak Namaz, Emad Sharghi, Morad Tahbaz, and 2 more that the U.S. government refused to name. Meanwhile, 5 Iranian prisoners who were detained in America were to be freed as part of the agreement. The U.S. also had to pay around 6 billion dollars to get these people back home. Luckily, the controversial swap was mediated by Qatar.

After leaving Tehran, Iran’s capital, the ex-prisoners touched down in Doha, the capital of Qatar. There they were met by senior U.S. officials who would help them get to Washington. Their families and many others say that these Americans were falsely imprisoned but some think otherwise, believing that Iran had the right to detain them. Some even saw these people as hostages and that Iran just wanted ransom money. Republicans and Iranian activists don’t support this swap because they say it might lead to more “hostages” being taken. 

Siamak Namaz, a 51-year-old was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on alleged spying charges. Emad Sharghi, a 59-year-old was arrested on charges of espionage. He was a venture capitalist and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, detained in 2018. Morad Tahbaz, a 67-year-old, was a British-American conservationist of Persian origin. Arrested in 2018, he received a 10-year sentence and was convicted of cooperating with a hostile government. Concrete evidence has not been found about these alleged accounts of espionage and spying.