PRISONER SWAP
US Navy vet Michael White held prisoner in Iran is FREED as part of deal struck to spare Iranian ‘spy’ doc any jail time
US Navy veteran Michael White has been freed from imprisonment in Iran and is being flown back to America.
Meanwhile, in , a federal judge approved a sentencing agreement for dermatologist Matteo Taerri, who had been charged by the Justice Department with violating sanctions on as well as banking laws.
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After nearly two years of detention, White left Iran on Thursday after winning his freedom as part of a deal that spared an American-Iranian physician from any additional time behind bars.
The veteran flew from Tehran to , where he was met by diplomat Brian Hook, the US special envoy for Iran.
On Thursday, celebrated the news on Twitter.
"I just got off the phone with former American hostage Michael White, who is now in Zurich after being released from Iran.
"He will be on a U.S. plane shortly, and is COMING HOME...to the !
"We have now brought more than 40 American hostages and detainees back home since I took office.
"Thank you to Iran, it shows a deal is possible!"
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The developments capped months of quiet negotiations between two countries that are at bitter odds over U.S. penalties imposed after Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal and over the killing by American forces of a top Iranian general in Iraq at the beginning of this year.
White, from Imperial Beach, , was detained by Iranian authorities in July 2018 while visiting a woman he had met online and fallen in love with.
He was convicted of insulting Iran's supreme leader and posting private information online, and was sentenced to a decade in prison.
"I am blessed to announce that the nightmare is over, and my son is safely in American custody and on his way home," White's mom, Joanne said in a statement obtained by the .
She thanked the State Department and Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and onetime governor, for raising her son's case with the Iranians.
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As White flew to Switzerland, US prosecutors completed the American part of the arrangement by asking a judge to sentence Taerri to time served on his conviction stemming from the 2018 charges.
There are numerous foreign policy interests that are furthered by this particular sentence, US District Judge Leigh Martin May said in granting the government's request.
Taerri was charged with attempting to export a filter to Iran that he said was for vaccine research but that U.S. authorities said required a license because it could be used for chemical and biological warfare purposes.
He was also accused of structuring a series of bank deposits below the $10,000 limit to evade reporting requirements under federal law.
He pleaded guilty late last year and has already served months behind bars.
But in April, he was permitted to be free on bond after the Justice Department withdrew its request to have him detained, citing what it said were significant foreign policy interests.
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The United States government and the government of Iran have been negotiating the release of a US citizen held in Iranian custody, Assistant US Attorney Tracia King said at Thursday's hearing.
This case, and more specifically the sentence recommendation, is directly related to these negotiations."
A citizen of Iran and the United States, Taerri is permitted as part of his sentence to remain in and to travel abroad.
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