Consider This from NPR - What the US-Iran Prisoner Swap Means For the Family of a Man Freed After 8 Years

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

On Tuesday, five Americans detained for years in Iran stepped off a plane back onto US soil. They were released in the US-Iran prisoner swap that also saw five Iranians freed and the US agreeing to 6 billion dollars of Iranian oil money being unfrozen. Per the deal, Iran is supposed to spend the money only on humanitarian goods like food and medicine.Among the five freed Americans: Siamak Namazi. The longest-held US citizen in Iran, detained since 2015. When he stepped off that plane yesterday, his brother Babak was there to greet him.NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Babak Namazi on what the prisoner swap means for his family.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward, working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. Nine campuses, one purpose. Creating tomorrow, today. More at iu.edu. This money belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran. And naturally, we will decide, the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it. That's Ibrahim Raisi, Iran's president, speaking through an interpreter to NBC last week. He's referring to the $6 billion of Iranian oil money that the U.S. agreed to have unfrozen as part of a prisoner swap. Per the deal, Iran is supposed to spend the money only on food, medicine, humanitarian goods.

But as you just heard, it is not clear that Iran's president plans to stick to that. And Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, raised concern about the money in an interview this week with Fox News. We all know money's fungible. And then the president of Iran just came out and said, I'm going to spend it however I want to. And of course he is. And guess where it's going to go? It's going to go into terror proxy operations. It's going to go into building their nuclear, you know, their nuclear, not defense system, but offensive system. On Tuesday, when I spoke with Abram Paley, the State Department envoy who rode home on the plane with the five American prisoners freed this week in Tehran, he stood by the agreement. This deal was about bringing these Americans home, and it did

just that. Being able to be there and witness the moments when they saw their loved ones for the first time, when they were able to hug them, made it clear that this deal was the right deal to take. But if you were sitting in Tehran watching this unfold, would you think, hey, that worked? We got something for that. I can't speak to the Iranians and their perspective. The perspective I can speak to was the loved ones that saw their family members after years on that tarmac. And that made clear that this was the right deal. This was the deal that got them out of prison and did not let them rot away in heaven prison. Consider this, securing the release of Americans held abroad sometimes comes at a heavy cost. Coming up, we speak to the brother of one of the freed Americans,

Siamak Namazi, to hear what his release meant for the family. Forum NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It's Wednesday, September 20th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University drives discovery, innovation, and creative endeavors to solve some of society's greatest challenges. Groundbreaking investments in neuroscience, climate change, Alzheimer's research, and cybersecurity mean IU sets new standards to move the world forward,

unlocking cures and solutions that lead to a better future for all. More at iu.edu forward. It's Consider This from NPR. If you were watching for any sign that the U.S.-Iran prisoner swap might crack open the door to improved relations between the two countries, you would not have found it at the United Nations yesterday. President Raisi of Iran addressed the diplomats gathered for the UN General Assembly, but he spoke not of diplomacy, but of revenge. Revenge for the 2020 killing by the U.S. of a top Iranian general.

Well, this was a strikingly different scene from the one that played out earlier in the day on the tarmac at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Five Americans detained for years in Iran stepped off a plane and back onto U.S. soil. Among them, Siamak Namazi, the longest-held U.S. citizen in Iran, detained since 2015, or as Namazi put it in a statement he released during that long trip back to the U.S., 2,898 days of what should have been the best days of my life stolen from me. When he stepped off that plane on Tuesday, his brother, Babak, was there to greet him. I spoke with Babak Namazi and asked him to describe how he felt at that moment. It's beyond description what someone goes through as that moment they've been waiting for eight years finally arrives. I kept feeling this is yet another dream that I'm having, and I was just horrified that I'm going to wake up from it. So it was really just elation and gratitude and disbelief

all combined together. What were his words, his first words to you, if I may ask? There were no words. It was us just rushing towards our loved ones and grabbing and holding them for dear life. And again, it's something I cannot describe, that feeling I've never, ever experienced. When you finally get to hug someone you've been struggling to get out for the past eight years and you finally get to do it. And how's he doing? He's off now for medical exams and just to check that everything's all well? Yeah, I think like the rest of us, and I imagine the rest of the hostages, they're also in disbelief. I mean, until hours and hours ago, there were hostages for many years, and then all of a sudden they weren't. All of us are waiting for our brains to catch up with that reality. Yeah. Well, and for your family especially,

because I want to note that your father, Bakr Namazi, was also held in Iran for years. And I wanted to ask about the conditions in which they were held. I was surprised, this is back in February, to notice that your brother from inside a Vien prison in Tehran was tweeting out an interview that I had done with Iran's foreign minister. I guess I didn't realize that news would reach him there and that he was able to tweet it out from the inside. Yeah, I mean, one thing that I think made me survive this, I mean, let alone Siamak, who obviously was going through this hell, was Siamak's courage and resilience and his desire to push back and make sure that he doesn't make it easy for the hostage takers.

And one thing for him was to try to be his own voice as much as possible. So yes, he had access to, when I say access to a Twitter account, not directly. Obviously, they don't have internet access in there. So, you know, it was an account that was controlled by us and his lawyers. Okay. So this is you reaching him on a phone in the prison and him reacting, and then you being able to communicate for him. Yeah. And I have to tell you every single time that he was doing these things, I tried to discourage him because I just feared. I was always fearful. And then he said, Babak, I'm in here. What else can they do to me that they haven't done to me? And it's so important for me to be my own voice as well. He was surrounded

by evil forces, and yet he was more courageous than I was. While celebrating, of course, we'll have heard some of the criticism of this deal, of this prisoner swap, that it will only encourage more hostage-taking by Iran, and that a deal like this will extend a lifeline to the ruling establishment there. What do you make of that criticism? I'm not sure what to make out of that criticism. You know, 3,000 days, close to 3,000 days is how many days Siamak was held in horrific conditions. About two-thirds of that was for my father. Can you just imagine anyone who criticizes family members to be reunited? Just imagine for one moment what it's like to be, you know, torn away from your family members. Well, and to be clear, I don't think the criticism is being directed at families.

No, I know it's not. It's being directed at the U.S. for American policy. I'm sure. I'm not a politician. I'm sure the president made a very, very difficult decision, but a decision that was well-reasoned, and I'm grateful for it, that he made that courageous decision, what it took. But my heart goes out to whoever is, you know, in Iran still and in others, in other prisons,

other Americans elsewhere. You know, we have a duty to do all we can to bring hostages home. It does prompt one more question. I was thinking about your family when I listened to Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Monday, giving a very clear warning to U.S. citizens, and the warning was, do not travel to Iran. U.S. citizens should not travel to Iran for any reason. People should, of course, travel wherever they wish, but is there an argument to be made that people with dual citizenship, people like your family, should think very hard about that? I mean, we thought these warnings, as for other people, we haven't done anything wrong. You have extended roots, originally being from Iran, and of course, relatives and heritage. I don't know what to say to that. We're examples of what happens when you think everything's going to be fine until it's not.

Once he's cleared by the doctors, once he's done whatever paperwork awaits him, what does your brother plan to do first? I mean, I think he's going to do silly things and serious things. He wants to breathe the fresh air. I mean, I was astonished when I saw live pictures of him getting off the plane like everyone else did. And I could tell that he's just taking that first deep breath of freedom. I think it's just enjoy the very, very simple things we all take for granted every second and every day. It's to just walk around. It's not to be in a room with 25 other people. It's going to bed when he wants to.

It's to eat what he wants. It's to talk to whomever and whenever he wants. It's to have a juicy burger. You know, just to be a human being again. Babak Namazi. His brother, Siamak Namazi, was held for eight years in Iran. He is one of five Americans freed this week in a controversial prisoner swap. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.