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“Five Americans freed from Iran made an emotional return to the United States on Tuesday ending their imprisonment ‘nightmare’, a day after they were swapped for five Iranians held in the U.S. and the unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds.” Reuters
Both sides call for tough measures to punish hostage-taking by foreign governments:
“The number of Americans wrongfully imprisoned by foreign governments has been rising for more than a decade… However, a new report released Wednesday showed the number of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad has fallen for the first time in over 10 years…
“Families of former hostages and other advocates believe the trend reflects a change in how the U.S. government now approaches cases of detained Americans… But what is still missing is a concerted strategy to deter regimes from taking hostages in the first place, she and other experts said. The U.S. and its allies need to collectively impose serious penalties on ‘abductor states,’ including financial sanctions, travel bans or asset freezes, experts said.”
Dan De Luce and Abigail Williams, NBC News
“President Biden, in his statement, warned Americans not to travel to Iran, but the U.S. should be firmer and say that Americans who travel there do so at their own risk. That includes dual U.S.-Iran citizens. No ransom will be paid in the future for their release…
“The U.S. and its allies will also have to make clear that Iran and other countries will pay a steep price for taking American hostages. The response can include diplomatic steps such as expelling Iranian diplomats, imposing economic sanctions, and harsher forms of retribution against Iranian assets and officials. Rogue regimes and thugs will keep snatching and imprisoning Americans until they fear that the risks of doing so are greater than the ransom they seek.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
Other opinions below.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) writes, “[This deal is] placing a $1.2-billion bounty on the head of every American hostage. This is a nearly 200% increase per hostage from the $1.7 billion [Barack] Obama paid for four hostages in 2015… We have just delivered $6 billion to the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, a nation that attacked American forces over 83 times since Joe Biden took office, and the new home of Al Qaeda’s leadership…
“The administration assures us that this money will only be used to build hospitals, roads and bridges. Even if we believed the liars and terrorists in Tehran — which we shouldn't — giving the Iranians $6 billion for roads, bridges and health care frees up to $6 billion dollars that they previously budgeted for those services. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the ayatollahs will likely shift those newly available dollars toward their military and security forces.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, Fox News
“Then, there’s the matter of the criminals that the U.S. plans to release to Iran. Al-Monitor reports that two of the Iranian nationals who will reportedly be released have already been convicted and sentenced to prison terms for evading U.S. laws that prohibit the transfer of certain technology to Iran; Mehrdad Ansari, one of those defendants, had attempted to obtain components that could be used by the Iranian military in its nuclear or missile programs…
“Securing the freedom of U.S. citizens held unjustifiably by dictatorships like Iran is always a worthy goal, but the administration is going too far by sending individuals who have already been convicted of crimes into the hands of one of America’s chief adversaries — and then authorizing the release of funds that are almost certain to assist Iran’s security services, whether directly or indirectly.”
The Editors, National Review
“The sad fact is that when regimes such as Iran, Russia, Venezuela or Afghanistan imprison Americans on spurious grounds — US citizens whom Washington terms ‘wrongfully detained’ — the officials leading these regimes are not going to wake up one morning and say, ‘I’m having a good day; let’s just release those Americans we are holding.’ Instead, they are going to demand a high price to release them. Since the highest responsibility of the US commander in chief is the protection of American citizens, Biden was right to approve the Iran deal…
“Of course, making a deal with a regime such as the one in Tehran risks what economists term ‘moral hazard’ since any deal may only incentivize the regime to seize other Americans. That said, the publicity around these [kinds] of prisoner swaps must surely act as a deterrent for Americans with any plans to travel to countries like Iran.”
Peter Bergen, CNN
“Criticism from the likes of Trump and Pence is politicized in the context of their presidential campaigns – and ignores their own deals to free Americans. In 2019, Trump engineered a prisoner swap with Iran to free Xiyue Wang, a US citizen accused of spying. Trump also personally welcomed three Americans home from North Korea in 2018 after a deal which looked like a quid pro quo for a later summit with tyrant Kim Jong Un that turned into little more than a giant photo-op…
“Would Americans prefer a commander-in-chief who rigidly insists there can be no negotiations with US enemies for hostages or prisoners because that would only encourage more seizures and that hardline foreign policy considerations must take priority? Or do they have peace of mind abroad knowing that a president of either party will do what it takes to get them back if they are unjustly imprisoned?”
Stephen Collinson, CNN
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