Iran Prisoners' Families Relieved; Ex-CIA Contractor's Family Furious
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/CBS News/AP) -- There was jubilation for some, and disappointment for others Monday, in the wake of the deal that led to the release of five prisoners from Iran.
As CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reported, the families of the five freed prisoners were looking forward to seeing their relatives Monday night. But one family was still waiting for news about their loved one's fate.
It was a long-awaited moment of freedom for Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, pastor Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari. They were flown from Iran and then transported to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment, U.S. officials said.
They were released Saturday in a prisoner swap as the Iran nuclear deal took effect.
The fifth detainee – a student identified as Matthew Trevithick – was released independently of the exchange on Saturday, said U.S. officials.
In return, the U.S. will pardon or drop charges against seven Iranians - six of whom are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens - accused or convicted of violating U.S. sanctions.
Three were serving prison terms and now have received a commutation or pardon. Three others were awaiting trial; the last one made a plea agreement.
Rezaian's brother spoke to him Monday morning.
"He knows that this has been a traumatic experience," said Ali Rezaian. "He's been deprived of information. He's been deprived of human interaction for almost 18 months, and he knows that he's got some work to do to get back."
One of the five Americans flew directly to Boston, and another stayed in Iran. Hekmati's sister, Sarah, wanted to help him learn what he has missed.
"Every New Year's, there's like a year-end review magazine, and I would save it so that he could get caught up," she said.
But the family of ex-FBI agent and ex-CIA contractor Robert Levinson was not happy at all. Levinson has been missing since 2007, and he was not part of the prisoner swap.
"I felt very betrayed and devastated," said Levinson's wife, Christine Levinson. "We had been promised that when the other people would be released, Bob would be with them – and he was not."
Former CIA director Robert Gates said more should have been done to secure Levinson's release.
"One of the things I would have pressed for, and maybe they did, was definitive information about the FBI man – either proof of life or proof of death, or something to bring closure," Gates said.
And as the treaty went into effect, Iran shipped out more than 25,000 pounds of atomic fuel, reduced its number of centrifuges, and poured concrete into a plutonium reactor. In exchange, tens of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian assets were unfrozen.
"It has been my worry that Iran would lay low until after the sanctions were lifted, and then either violate the nuclear agreement or create real danger on the non-nuclear side -- whether it's with ballistic missiles, or with Hezbollah or Hamas, or any of the other terrorist organizations," said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
As soon as the United States was sure the American hostages had cleared Iranian airspace, it imposed fresh, but limited, sanctions on 11 Iranian companies and citizens for supplying Iran's ballistic missile program.
Nevertheless, Iran can now buy or sell oil and other goods, and its ships are free to sail into foreign ports.
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