U.S.-Iran Exchange Prisoners – A Year Since the Death of Masha Amini Sparked Protests

US citizens Siamak Namazi (C-back), Emad Sharqi (bottom-L) and Morad Tahbaz (bottom-R) disembark from a Qatari jet upon their arrival at the Doha International Airport in Doha on September 18, 2023. Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images

On Monday, five Americans who were imprisoned in Iran, stepped off a plane in Doha, Qatar. They were freed as part of a prisoner exchange deal between the U.S. and Iran.Despite the happy news, the Biden administration is facing a lot of criticism for this deal, which also gave Iran access to about $6 billion of its oil revenue – money that had been frozen under sanctions targeting the government in Tehran.The deal also comes just a little over a year after the death of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini. Her death sparked the biggest anti-regime protests that Iran had seen in years.NPR’s Arezou Rezvani tells us about the legacy of those protests a year later. We also hear reporting from NPR’s Michele Kelemen about the U.S.-Iran prisoner swap.
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This episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Jeanette Woods, Larry Kaplow and William Troop. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.