19 (UPI) — Five American hostages released as prisoners with Iran returned home to the United States early Tuesday to reunite with their weeping loved ones after being held for years in Iranian prisons.
Siamak Namazi, 59, Emad Shargi, 59, and Morad Tahbaz, 67, also a British citizen, have spent more than five years in prison for espionage. The names of the other two American hostages were released at the request of their families.
But Biden attacked the deal through Republicans, saying it had paid well for a ransom that would only embolden Iran to take more hostages.
Presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence joined them in berating Biden’s leadership on Monday for its positions on China, Russia and Iran.
But Pence has also criticized Republicans whom he accuses of peddling “a harmful form of isolationism” and identifying Trump — who presided over his own prisoner deals with Iran and North Korea — as one of the main culprits.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ignored Washington’s restrictions that put Qatar in charge of managing frozen oil funds and told NBC that Tehran would use the cash as it sees fit, “wherever we want it. “
Biden and Raisi were expected to meet face-to-face Tuesday when world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly in New York.