Briton Morad Tahbaz and four Americans freed from Iran detention land in Doha after £4.8bn deal
A British national and four Americans who were released from detention by Iran in exchange for $6bn (£4.8bn) and a prisoner swap are now free after landing in Doha.
The group’s plane touched down in Qatar’s capital shortly after 3.30pm UK time following their departure from Tehran earlier on Monday.
The British man freed is environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 67, who has British, US and Iranian citizenship.
He was among the dual nationals being held at the time negotiations were under way involving the UK government to free former detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The men were joined on the flight by two family members and the Qatari ambassador to Iran, a source told Reuters. It is thought they will now fly on to the US.
The $6bn (£4.8bn) funds, once frozen in South Korea, were released in Qatar after the Biden administration issued a waiver for international banks to transfer frozen Iranian money without the repercussions of US sanctions, an Iranian official announced on state television.
The deal also included the release of five unnamed Iranian citizens held in the US.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said earlier: “The issue of swap of prisoners will be done on this day and five prisoners, citizens of the Islamic Republic, will be released from the prisons in the US.
“Five imprisoned citizens who were in Iran will be given to the US side reciprocally, based on their will. We expect these two issues [to] fully take place based on agreement.”
It comes weeks after Iran said the five were released from prison and placed under house arrest.
All been jailed at notorious prison
The US-Iranian dual nationals released by Iran include businessmen Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Shargi, 58.
Together with Mr Tahbaz, they had all been jailed at the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran on spying charges.
The identity of the fourth and fifth prisoners to be released has not been made public.
Two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the US, two will fly to Iran and one detainee will join his family in a third country, an Iranian official said.
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British national among those being released
London-born Mr Tahbaz was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “assembly and collusion against Iran’s national security” and working for the US as a spy.
He has – at various stages – been the subject of ongoing negotiations for his release involving British authorities, including when Dominic Raab and Liz Truss were foreign secretaries.
He was temporarily released on the same day charity worker Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe and retired civil engineer Anoosheh Ashoori were freed, but was later returned to custody.
His daughter Roxanne had been among those calling on the UK government to do more to get him released.
He is a prominent conservationist and board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which seeks to protect endangered species.
Roxanne Tahbaz holds a picture of her father Morad Tahbaz during a protest outside the Foreign Office in London
Mr Namazi was convicted in 2016 of espionage-related charges the US has rejected as baseless and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Mr Shargi was convicted of espionage in 2020 and also sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The money from South Korea represents funds Seoul owed Iran, but had not yet paid, for oil purchased before Donald Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
The US maintains the money will be held in restricted accounts in Qatar and will only be able to be used for humanitarian goods such as medicine and food – transactions allowed under American sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic over its advancing nuclear programme.
The West has accused Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
Police officers found a handgun, a silencer and a red notebook described as a “manifesto” when they arrested Luigi Mangione.
The 27-year-old was arrested in December 2024 and charged with killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York City.
Mangione‘s lawyers want to block prosecutors from showing or telling jurors at his eventual trial in Manhattan about statements he allegedly made and items they said police seized from his backpack during his arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
The objects include a 9mm handgun prosecutors say matches the one used in the killing, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear and a notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to “wack” a healthcare executive.
Mangione with his attorney. Pic: Reuters
The defence contends the items should be excluded because police did not get a warrant before searching Mangione’s backpack.
Prosecutors deny claims Mangione was illegally searched and questioned.
They also want to suppress some statements he made to police, such as allegedly giving a false name, because officers asked him questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.
Last week, Mangione watched surveillance videos of the killing of Mr Thompson, 50, as he walked to a New York City hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges.
The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
This week’s hearing concerns only the state case, but Mangione’s lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases.
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In September, a judge dismissed two terrorism counts against Mangione, finding prosecutors had not presented enough evidence Mangione intended to intimidate health insurance workers or influence government policy.
Trial dates are yet to be set in either the state or federal cases.
Paramount has launched a £108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros, challenging Netflix, which had reached a $72bn takeover deal with the company.
Paramount said on Monday that it was going straight to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shareholders with a $30 per share in cash offer for the entirety of the company, including its Global Networks segment, asking them to reject the deal with Netflix.
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy WBD, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max
The agreement means Warner Bros Discovery’s library of film and TV successes including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones will come under the same roof as Stranger Things and Squid Game.
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
But Paramount says its deal will pay $30 cash per share, representing $18 billion more in cash than its rivals are offering.
In a statement, Paramount said it was making a “strategically and financially compelling offer to WBD shareholders” and a “superior alternative to the Netflix transaction”.
File pic: iStock
David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD in the course of 12 weeks, but that they were never “meaningfully” engaged with.
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