BREAKING: Iran to free four Americans in prisoner swap

Four Americans who never should have been taken by Iran in the first place - on everything from phony spying charges to merely preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ - will now be freed, but only because the U.S. has agreed to release six Iranian-Americans who violated sanctions against Iran:

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Iran has released four imprisoned U.S. citizens, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, as part of a swap, the office of Tehran’s prosecutor announced Saturday, according to Iranian news media. The other released prisoners include Amir Hekmat, a former U.S. Marine, and Saeed Abedni, a pastor, and a fourth unnamed American. All four are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens. Rezaian has been held since 2014. According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, the four were ordered released in exchange for six Iranian-Americans held in the United States on sanctions-related charges.

Presumably the fourth American is former FBI agent Robert Levinson. This is obviously good news for the four Americans, but this deal is the same crock of **** we always get when Obama and Kerry do the negotiations. The fact that they didn't require the release of these four as part of the nuclear deal is one of the most pathetic capitulations the United States has ever been a party to, and now we have to release six people who actually were brought up on legitimate charges of breaking real laws. Welcome home, gentlemen, but it's too bad Obama and Kerry didn't get you out of there a long time ago, and it's too bad they had to pay this high a price.

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