Iran freed five American hostages “purely with humanitarian motives” in mind,” the country’s president said during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi sat for the interview this week in New York, where he’s attending the U.N. General Assembly. His comments follow the completion of the prisoner swap, according to which the U.S. agreed to release five Iranian nationals in return for five Americans previously held on bogus charges by the Iranian regime. The U.S. also waived certain sanctions, allowing South Korean banks to transfer $6 billion in previously frozen funds to an account from which Iran can draw.
“There was an opportunity for this exchange to take place. And this exchange was, as I said, prompted by purely humanitarian motives, and I do think that the accomplishment was something that led to the happiness of the families of the prisoners, as well as having been able to show the true face of our humanitarian motives and efforts,” Raisi said, according to an excerpt released by CNN.
The Trump administration sanctioned Raisi over his role in overseeing the mass executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 and other executions. The State Department granted him a visa to attend the General Assembly, saying that the U.S. has a legal obligation to admit other countries’ leaders for U.N. meetings.