<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Five Americans freed by Iran in a high-stakes prisoner swap landed back in the United States on Tuesday to a joyous reunion with family members.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The five arrived aboard an executive jet at a military airfield in Fort Belvoir southwest of Washington.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Relatives waved US flags and hugged the freed prisoners as they disembarked from the aircraft, then posed for a group photograph, grinning widely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Welcome home," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan posted on X, formerly Twitter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The former prisoners, including one held for eight years, were part of a rare prisoner exchange between Washington and Tehran, a deal that included the unfreezing of $6 billion in funds frozen by US ally South Korea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The swap marked a slight thaw in relations between the two countries over a host of issues, including Iran's advances in its nuclear program, although some observers urged caution in viewing the release as a sign of change.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prisoners arrived on a flight from the Gulf state of Qatar, which helped facilitate the exchange, negotiated over several months. They will receive a medical checkup in the Washington area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran, which does not recognize dual nationalities, is still holding a number of European nationals including Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen sentenced to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the United Nations, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and voiced the bloc's "strong condemnation" over continued detentions, an EU statement said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Joe Biden's administration says that no further US citizens are known to be in Iranian prisons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It has rejected criticism at home that it was paying "ransom," insisting the money will be used only for humanitarian purposes, with a threat to re-freeze the funds if not.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It insists that it is not relieving sanctions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Iran demands end to sanctions -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran has insisted it has full access to the funds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that sanctions reimposed by the United States were a "political tool on people" that had failed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"These sanctions have not yielded the desired results. It is time now for the United States to bring a cessation to its wrong path and choose the right side," Raisi said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But in his own speech at the United Nations, Biden vowed to work with allies to "address Iran's destabilizing activities that threaten regional and global security."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States remains "steadfast in our commitment that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon," Biden said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unlike European powers, the United States maintains no diplomatic relations with Iran's clerical state, established after the overthrow of the pro-Western shah in 1979.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the prisoner issue was a separate track from moribund talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal trashed by former president Donald Trump.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the freed prisoners praised Biden for ignoring the domestic political backlash and taking the "incredibly difficult decisions" that released them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Thank you, President Biden, for ultimately putting the lives of American citizens above politics," Siamak Namazi, a businessman held by Iran since 2015, said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other freed prisoners include wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz and venture capitalist Emad Sharqi, both of whom were held at the notorious Evin Prison but placed under house arrest last month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Two other US prisoners involved in the swap have not been publicly identified.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The five Iranian prisoners released by the United States were convicted or charged with nonviolent crimes, with one already set to be released soon, officials said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">France, which backs the nuclear agreement and considers four of its nationals to be arbitrarily detained by Iran, warned against drawing a link.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think we need to be extremely careful to distinguish this from the nuclear issue," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>