Iran releases 4 US prisoners as the sanction-lifting seems finalized.

[Gamevizier]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...18d_story.html

http://www.jpost.com/International/I...er-swap-441702

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35333656

apparently it's a prisoner swap. 4 dual Iranian-Americans are being released in return of 6 or so Iranians imprisoned by the US. on the day that sanctions are going to be officially lifted, John Kerry is currently in Vienna and it is expected that the sanctions are going to be officially lifted.

[PACOX]

Awesome. Forget all the concern trolls in the media and Washington.

[Merkava]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...18d_story.html

http://www.jpost.com/International/I...er-swap-441702

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35333656

apparently it's a prisoner swap. 4 dual Iranian-Americans are being released in return of 6 or so Iranians imprisoned by the US. on the day that sanctions are going to be officially lifted, John Kerry is currently in Vienna and it is expected that the sanctions are going to be officially lifted.

The deal comes on the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report confirming Iran's compliance with the July 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five world powers -- a move that triggered broad sanctions relief. As part of the prisoner exchange, the U.S. will release seven Iranians who were being held in the country on sanctions violations. All were born in Iran, but six are dual Iranian-American citizens. The seven men all have the option to remain in the U.S.

Administration officials insist it's a coincidence that the prisoners' release happened on the same day as implementation of the nuclear deal.

Of course it's a swap. I would go further and call it a ransom.

[Wells]

I'm pleased to see diplomacy bearing fruit.

When we have foes who are straight up death cults and foes who are just rival nation-states with rational aims of their own its easy to lump them together. While I disagree with the Obama administration a lot of foreign policy I'm happy that they've been able to tell the difference.

[Merkava]

I'm pleased to see diplomacy bearing fruit.

When we have foes who are straight up death cults and foes who are just rival nation-states with rational aims of their own its easy to lump them together. While I disagree with the Obama administration a lot of foreign policy I'm happy that they've been able to tell the difference.

It's not diplomacy, it's paying ransoms to terrorist regimes.

[Wells]

It's not diplomacy, it's paying ransoms to terrorist regimes.

Dial it back a bit there Hannity.

[Merkava]

Dial it back a bit there Hannity.

That's a fair criticism. Not very substantive, though. Anything else?

[Wells]

That's a fair criticism. Not very substantive, though. Anything else?

Not really. You just offered up a framing that's heavy on rhetoric and I find it kind of silly. If my post seemed to lack substance its only a reflection of how much substance I felt was in your complaint.

Is the Iranian government "bad"? In so far as any nation is, sure, but you'll never see me put much stock in our country designating another a "sponsor of terror". Prisoner swaps are hardly ransom, and they can lead to better interaction in the future. That the recent mishap with our soldiers in Iranian waters blew over so cleanly is something I think we can fairly assume to be the result of better dialogue on other issues as of late.

[Kellhound]

It's not diplomacy, it's paying ransoms to terrorist regimes.

Thats all the whole thing has been. No matter how you look at it Iran won everything and the West lost.

[Merkava]

Not really. You just offered up a framing that's heavy on rhetoric and I find it kind of silly. If my post seemed to lack substance its only a reflection of how much substance I felt was in your complaint.

Is the Iranian government "bad"? In so far as any nation is, sure, but you'll never see me put much stock in our country designating another a "sponsor of terror". Prisoner swaps are hardly ransom, and they can lead to better interaction in the future. That the recent mishap with our soldiers in Iranian waters blew over so cleanly is something I think we can fairly assume to be the result of better dialogue on other issues as of late.

Hardly ransom? On the same day we lift billions of dollars in sanctions? Are you serious?

[Wells]

Hardly ransom? On the same day we lift billions of dollars in sanctions? Are you serious?

A) I'm not convinced its any thing other than coincidence. B) Even if its not, I don't see how trading prisoners after confirming that our last negotiation is proceeding at pace is ransom. You could just as easily argue that that's due diligence on our part.

[Merkava]

A) I'm not convinced its any thing other than coincidence.

There was a time when I would have said that you're too smart for that. It was right before that post.

Edit - That was a cheap shot, and I apologize, publicly. Though I rarely agree, I hold your postings in higher regard than that.

B) Even if its not, I don't see how trading prisoners after confirming that our last negotiation is proceeding at pace is ransom.

It wasn't just a prisoner swap. It was billions in sanctions relief.

You could just as easily argue that that's due diligence on our part.

. Sure. If we didn't pay billions of dollars and trade criminals for pastors.

[Tijuana]

I'm pleased to see diplomacy bearing fruit.

When we have foes who are straight up death cults and foes who are just rival nation-states with rational aims of their own its easy to lump them together. While I disagree with the Obama administration a lot of foreign policy I'm happy that they've been able to tell the difference.

I agree with your sentiment but when it's done against the will of the people, and the next president chops the tree down, that fruit will get rotten pretty fast, and we will be worse off than before.

[Merkava]

I agree with your sentiment but when it's done against the will of the people, and the next president chops the tree down, that fruit will get rotten pretty fast, and we will be worse off than before.

The problem isn't the next president, it's the next time Iran takes hostages.

[Tijuana]

The problem isn't the next president, it's the next time Iran takes hostages.

The problem is the current president defying the will of the people, imho.

[Belize]

The problem is the current president defying the will of the people, imho.

How is he defying the people exactly...?

[Nadiru]

I'm pleased to see diplomacy bearing fruit.

When we have foes who are straight up death cults and foes who are just rival nation-states with rational aims of their own its easy to lump them together. While I disagree with the Obama administration a lot of foreign policy I'm happy that they've been able to tell the difference.

As emphatic I am about a US-Iran entente, this particular deal is tilted pretty heavily for Iran. The US isn't getting nearly enough out of it, in my estimation. Nuclear security in this case is a non-issue; Iran has every reason to maintain state control of its nuclear arsenal, not the least of which being that if there is a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb detonated somewhere, and the Uranium is traced back to Iranian nuclear reactors, there will be a shitstorm of breathtaking proportions, one which has Iran becoming a nation of glass as a very real possibility.

The only reason I'm not furious about this deal, and wasn't furious about it when it was being worked out, is because this deal effectively puts Iran on the US side of the global petroleum price war, by massively expanding supply and production capacity, directly harming countries who are contingent on oil revenues for their national aspirations. It would be in the US' best interest to cut oil prices as low as possible and then offer aid to those countries who are affected, which forces their well-being to align with American goals.

[Merkava]

How is he defying the people exactly...?

Congressionally enacted sanctions were lifted by the Obama administration without consulting Congress. That's what I assumed he was referring to, at least.

[Wells]

It wasn't just a prisoner swap. It was billions in sanctions relief.

If this is really just going to be a rehash of the debate over the nuclear arms deal I'm not interested.

- - - Updated - - -

Basically Merkava, this seems to come down to you not believing trading Iranian criminals for American prisoners is a good deal. I disagree. That's about it. You however seem bent on bringing the nuclear deal into the equation, which I don't think is relevant beyond background.

[Merkava]

If this is really just going to be a rehash of the debate over the nuclear arms deal I'm not interested.

- - - Updated - - -

Basically Merkava, this seems to come down to you not believing trading Iranian criminals for American prisoners is a good deal. I disagree. That's about it. You however seem bent on bringing the nuclear deal into the equation, which I don't think is relevant beyond background.

The reality of the timing forces us to bring the nuclear deal into the equation. It's all related. Huffington Post

The State Department never publicly disclosed the existence of negotiations to free the Americans and publicly rejected calls to tie the prisoners -- or any other issue -- to the nuclear talks. But privately, Brett McGurk, who until recently was deputy secretary of state for Iran and Iraq, led talks focusing on the prisoners.

Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the public faces of the nuclear deal negotiations, also spoke in private about the prisoners

Trading prisoners is fine. Paying ransoms and trading criminals for journalists, however, is not fine. It allows Iranian officials to, as Joel Simon puts it,

bolster the government’s contention that Rezaian was in fact a spy, since officials can argue that it is spies and not journalists who are released as a result of a prisoner exchange...Iran is not being held to account for its horrendous violation of Rezaian’s human rights by holding him for 18 months. Moveover, 18 other journalists, all of them Iranian, languish in prison today. Ensuring that Iran pays a price for its abysmal behavior remains unfinished business.

In short, giving Tehran leverage in it's defense of it's behavior is not fine.